Vietnam - Parents rush to bring children to swimming practice classes

VietNamNet Bridge - Disappointed with the Ministry of Education and Training’s (MOET) swimming teaching program, parents now bring their children to swimming practice classes themselves.

Schools struggling with swimming teaching program

The MOET’s program to teach swimming to students at general schools has been going very slowly due to many reasons. Schools complain that they do not have money and the material facilities good enough to carry out the program.

Though the “swimming illiteracy eradication” program kicked off in 2010, no considerable progress has been made so far.

In HCM City, only a few schools have made swimming education compulsory to third graders. 99 percent of secondary school students and 80 percent of primary school students in Thu Duc district can learn swimming. The schools in Binh Chanh district have run the pilot program on teaching swimming to primary and secondary schools.

Meanwhile, the majority of schools have not gone far with the swimming teaching program.

Parents, who got impatient of the slow program implementation, have decided to bring their children to private swimming classes instead of relying on the state’s support.

According to Ministry of Healthcare, drowning is one of the leading causes of children deaths. It is estimated that tens of children die of drowning every day, especially in the localities with many rivers and lakes.

Le Van Quang, a senior official of the HCM City Education and Training Department, said that only 20 schools in the city have swimming pools of their own. This means that other schools have to carry their students to swimming pools. This has caused a lot of troubles to the lesson scheduling.

Headmaster of a primary school in district 7 said that it takes hours to bring students to the swimming pools and then take them back, which goes beyond the school’s capability.

“We have been teaching swimming to students with textbooks instead of swimming pools,” the headmaster said.

“We encourage parents to send their children to private swimming classes themselves. Children need to be taught necessary life skills. Especially, they need to be shown how they should react in emergency cases,” he said.

Students cannot wait to protect their lives

Nguyen Van Thinh, a fourth grader of a primary school in Go Vap District, said that he is carried by the mother to the Dai Duc swimming pool near his house. After just four practice hours, he now can swim the breast stroke.

Ho Thuy Hoa, Thinh’s mother said that she heard at the parents’ meeting last year that the school would kick off the program to teaching swimming to students. However, as Hoa has not heard anything more about the teaching, she decided to bring Thinh to swimming pool.

“My child cannot wait for the state’s or the school’s plan to protect himself,” Hoa said. “He is very excited at the swimming pool. Swimming not only can provide necessary knowledge, but also help people relax,” she added.

However, she admitted that she still hopes to see the school’s program to activate soon. “The Dai Duc swimming pool is overcrowded, therefore, my son sometimes feels inconvenient,” she complained.

In fact, not only Dai Duc, but all the swimming pools in the city are overcrowded these summer days. A lot of swimming teaching centers accept more learners than their capability, or organize more teaching shifts on daytime.

Nguyen Huy Son from the HCM City Children’s House said that the swimming pool here receives children aged 4-6, and can accept 20 learners for every teaching hour. Meanwhile, it has to accept 30 students to satisfy the high demand.

Source: Tien phong

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