Summer comes, along with a rise in demand for entertainment and sports activities among students, especially for swimming. Risk of drowning may also rise if students are not equipped with adequate swimming and drowning prevention skills. Therefore, developing a swimming skill learning movement and teaching drowning prevention and control skills for children and the community is a very urgent solution to reduce the risk of drowning.
According to statistics by the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids, and Social Affairs, Vietnam records about 2,000 child drowning deaths each year. Drowning is the leading cause of death among children, accounting for 48.8% of injury accidents. Child drowning rate in the country is 10 times higher than that of developed countries. 53% of drowning cases occur when children play near ponds, streams, rivers, lakes, canals, and ditches without adult supervision.
Although it is only the start of summer, there have been drowning cases, such as the drowning of two 12-year-old girls in Binh Duong, or most recently, in the Red River area (Ba Vi, Hanoi) on May 19, the drowning of two grade 10 students who bathed in the river after school. Drowning has become an open wound and anguish every summer not only to the family but also to the whole society.
In order to promote measures to prevent drowning accidents in the summer of 2020, the Ministry of Education and Training has recently sent a dispatch requesting the Departments of Education and Training and educational institutions to strengthen propaganda and training on safety rules for conducting daily activities for children and students, and to improve the sense of responsibility among educational staff and teachers in organizing courses on drowning prevention skills, especially during the summer vacation of 2020.
In addition, the Ministry of Education and Training requires that Departments of Education and Training and education institutions have teachers warn students at the end of each school day of the risks associated with playing near ponds, lakes, rivers, streams, canals, construction pits, or places with a risk of drowning; risks associated with students inviting one another to swimming without adult supervision, especially from home to school and vice versa, time off from school, summer vacation; etc.
The units shall also take the initiative in working with authorities at all levels and local mass organizations to guide children to participate in healthy activities; organize classes on swimming, safety, drowning prevention skills during the summer vacation; and promptly adopt plans to respond to abnormal weather conditions (storms, floods, etc.) to prevent drowning.
Pedagogical universities, institutes, colleges, and intermediate schools shall provide students with safety skills during extracurricular activities and make every effort to avoid avoiding places with risk of drowning.
Also, parents and guardians need to guide and warn children of drowning risk factors such as locations with a high risk of drowning (wells, lakes, rivers, streams, etc.); accompany children to ensure safety; build barriers made of bamboo, wood and make safety covers to prevent children from accessing open water sources, etc.
Over the past years, Hanoi city has effectively implemented a swimming and drowning prevention program; and given free swimming, water safety, and rescue skills classes to children.
The implementation of the program has helped prevent drowning accidents and minimized risks among the residents, especially students in remote areas.
Following the instruction by the People’s Committee of Hanoi, in 2019, the Hanoi Department of Culture and Sports has provided many measures and solutions to prevent drowning accidents among children. Swimming and drowning prevention training programs have been implemented simultaneously throughout the city. Along with the free swimming and water safety skills classes, the Department also held various rescue classes for district-level officers and guides within the city to contribute to preventing drowning accidents and reducing risks for residents and students.
Nguyen An