Worldwide News and Reports

School Swimming Lessons

Swimming is the main skill you can learn in school that can actually save your life. Should swimming be part of education in schools?

In most countries swimming lessons are not compulsory, but many of the better schools have them. Where it is possible, there should be the swimming lessons for kids.

Swimming is a crucial lifesaving skill so it is really important to get learner swimmers often into the water, so they can continue on their journey towards becoming safe and confident in the water.

We think it's a good idea for schools to teach students to swim. But not every school has the conditions to do that. In some less-developed areas, there is not even a swimming pool for a whole region with a population of half a million people.

It is a pity that many Chinese athletes won world championships in swimming while most schools don't have the swimming facilities. Swimming is an essential lifesaving skill that everyone should access to. The earlier, the better. Governments need to put money into the popularity of the sport.

In Guangdong province (China) swimming lessons got introduced in schools starting from 2020, with weekly courses running from the fourth grade.

An expat in China told us: There are swimming lessons in my city, but I was very disappointed in how they were taught. The kids spent 45 minutes of the one hour lesson practicing strokes ON DRY LAND. They only spent 15 minutes in the water. All of the children panicked and sank immediately to the bottom. Then all of the parents berated the children, telling them that they weren't paying attention to the teacher and that they were failures. I removed my kids from the lessons and taught them on my own.

Aquatic Lifesaving in Schools

Another important swimming lesson offered by some schools is a Lifesaving Course, designed for medium-level swimmers who can jump in and save any person from drowning. These courses include basic swimming lessons where you have to carry someone and swim.

In addition, there is basic training in CPR and the actions to take in case someone has been saved from drowning. It is highly recommended that if you have the basic swimming skills you opt for this useful training session.

Drowning kills more than Malaria

Did you know that the biggest danger to your life aren't sharks, jellyfish, or stingrays?

Drowning is an international epidemic, a leading cause of injury death worldwide, killing more people each year than malaria, yet it is barely recognised. Global estimates may significantly underestimate the actual public health problem related to drowning. Over 50,000 people drown each year in China alone, mainly because 4 out of 5 can't swim.

Most drownings occur in the world's poorest countries, which have only very limited lifesaving services, or none at all. In some areas drowning is the leading cause of child death.

Around 80% of casualties are men which is why we focus on educating them via this website. Women seem to be smarter when it comes to water safety.

Worldwide Drowning Pandemic

In 2014 of the ten countries with the highest age-standardised mortality rate, six (Belarus, Lithuania, Latvia, Russia, Ukraine and Moldova) were in Eastern Europe and two (Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan) were in Central Asia. Some countries (Japan, Finland and Greece) had a relatively low rank in mortality rate among children aged 0–4 years, but had a high rank in mortality rate among older adults.

On the contrary, South Africa and Colombia had a relatively high rank among children aged 0–4 years, but had a relatively low rank in mortality rate among older adults.

With regard to body of water involved, the proportion involving a bathtub was extremely high in Japan (65%), followed by Canada (11%) and the USA (11%). Of the 13,634 drowning deaths involving bathtubs in Japan between 2009 and 2011, 12,038 (88%) were older adults aged 65 years or above.

The percentage involving a swimming pool was high in the USA (18%), Australia (13%), and New Zealand (7%). The proportion involving natural water was high in Finland (93%), Panama (87%), and Lithuania (85%).

After considering the completeness of reporting and quality of classifying drowning deaths across countries, we conclude that drowning is a high-priority public health problem in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Japan (older adults involving bathtubs), and the USA (involving swimming pools).

Spain requires masks even while swimming!

2021-04-03

When holidaying in Spain you will be forced to wear face masks on the beach, and even in the sea or pool, after a new decree issued by the government.

This is a most efficient way to drown people. The utter stupidity and real danger of having to wear a face mask while swimming in the sea goes without saying. Having to wear a face covering while placing yourself in a situation where you have a heightened risk of encountering breathing difficulties is totally insane.

The Spanish tourist industry has reacted with dismay to the government’s decree that face masks must be worn in all outdoor spaces, including beaches and swimming pools, even when it is possible to maintain social distancing.

José Luis Zoreda, vice-president of Exceltur, the umbrella organisation that represents Spain’s tourism industry, told the El País newspaper: “We’re going through hell with thousands of jobs and businesses threatened and now they want to turn the beaches into open-air field hospitals.”

Whatever next? Hazmat suits? It's about time to stop this Co-Whatsit nonsense.