Why has Kerala begun survival swimming training for schoolchildren? Premium

Over the past five years, at least 1,000-1,200 persons have died every year in Kerala by drowning, young children and adolescents constituting a significant percentage of this number.

For the first time in the country, a World Health Organization-led initiative to impart survival swimming training to children in order to reduce drowning deaths, is taking off in Kerala.

Over the past five years, at least 1,000-1,200 persons have died every year in Kerala by drowning, young children and adolescents constituting a significant percentage of this number.

The hazards of drowning have always been high in the State which has a number of natural water bodies, such as ponds, canals, pools and rivers, apart from a long coast line. Kerala also reports a good number of drowning deaths due to accidents – boats capsizing or children being washed away in swift waters while attempting to cross these, especially during monsoons.

Though the Kerala General Education department has had plans since 2018 to include swimming as part of the school curriculum from primary classes, by constructing mini-swimming pools in schools or using local pools to train children in swimming, it never materialised because of logistics issues, funds shortage and safety issues associated with using natural pools.

Apart from a few local initiatives in some panchayats and summer swimming coaching classes, no plans to teach swimming to children as part of necessary life skills have ever taken off in the State, though child deaths due to drowning continue unabated in the State.

The project, ‘Turning the tide on drowning’ - a school SwimSafe (survival swim training for children) programme, is being piloted in two schools in the capital district by the George Institute for Global Health (India), a WHO Collaborating Centre on Injury Prevention, Trauma Care and Head Injury, with the cooperation of the State General Education Department.

According to the WHO estimates, there were 55,000 drownings in India in 2021, with children and young people (0 to 17 age group) constituting 22% of these deaths.