Much to the concern of the Royal Life Saving Society, more and more Australian children do not know how to swim, or lack the skills to keep themselves alive in the water. It is estimated that up to 20 per cent of children finish primary school without the ability to swim the length of an Olympic-sized swimming pool. For example more than 50,000 or a fifth of NSW students will start high school next year unable to swim 50 meters.
According to the Society’s CEO, Rob Bradley, not enough schools are providing swimming lessons to students. He said, “Some very good programs are offered through local aquatic centres, but it’s a very fragmented approach throughout Australia through the education system… It should be the responsibility of the Australian Government to ensure that every child in Australia has these vital swimming and safety skills.” He added that minority kids suffer worst. “We’re seeing big gaps in populations that receive no water safety lessons at all… These are from Indigenous communities, many cultural backgrounds, rural and remote communities and people from lower socio-economic families.”
In another concern Bradley added that if not in primary school most children remain unskilled in swimming for life. He said, “We know that children once they reach high school - if they feel a lack of confidence in their own ability, they’re likely to avoid programs and further lessons so they don’t embarrass themselves amongst their peers and this then places them at great risk when they’re older teenagers, they might be out in unsupervised activity, the bravado, the peer pressure kicks in and they may be placing themselves in grave danger.”
The society’s 2010 National Drowning Report revealed the number of deaths had reached a seven-year high, with 314 in 2009-10. Fifty-six were children younger than 17, and 80 per cent of those were boys.
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