Nghe An: Many useful playgrounds in the summer to reduce child drowning accidents

Creating safe playgrounds for children

Having their own playground and reading library has been a long-standing dream of children in Huoi Son and Pha Lom villages (Tam Hop commune, Tuong Duong district). And then, that dream became a reality when last May, the Youth Union organizations including the Provincial Agencies Youth Union and the Provincial Enterprises Youth Union cooperated with the Provincial Youth Union to complete two projects: a library for children and a children's playground with thorough and methodical investment.

The Library for Children project was implemented by the Provincial Agencies' Union in coordination with the Provincial Youth Union at Tam Hop Primary School - Huoi Son School (Tam Hop Commune, Tuong Duong District). Photo: Thanh Quynh

Unable to hide his joy, Mr. Le Hong Thai - Secretary of the Commune Party Committee said that the local infrastructure conditions are still difficult when the people here are mainly ethnic minorities, the land area is small, so children lack useful playgrounds in the summer. Many children choose to invite each other to the streams and creeks next to their houses to play in the water or invite each other to go to the fields and forests to play. This situation poses many dangers to the health and even the lives of children. Therefore, creating healthy playgrounds in the summer for teenagers and children is extremely necessary, contributing to reducing accidents and injuries in children, especially drowning.

Representatives of the Provincial Party Committee's Mass Mobilization Commission, the Provincial Youth Union and the Provincial Business Bloc Youth Union visited children after completing the children's playground in Pha Lom village (Tam Hop commune, Tuong Duong district). Photo: Thanh Quynh

Looking across the province, in recent times, the commune-level Youth Unions have donated 6 reading, interaction and Team activity spaces to disadvantaged teams in Thanh Chuong, Hung Nguyen, Do Luong, Nghia Dan, Quy Hop districts and Vinh City with a value of nearly 100 million VND; At the district level, 8 reading and Team activity spaces have been donated. In the 2021-2022 school year, the whole province has supported the construction of more than 200 new playgrounds for children with a value of nearly 3.5 billion VND. Notable among them are Do Luong, Vinh City and Anh Son. These efforts are an important premise to improve the effectiveness of drowning prevention in the whole province.

Raising awareness and skills to prevent drowning

In recent days, more than 50 teenagers and children in Thanh Thuy commune (Thanh Chuong) have been taught swimming for free by the local youth union members in coordination with the Thanh Thuy Border Guard Station Youth Union. The class takes place every Tuesday and Friday afternoon with the participation of 13 youth union members in the commune and 5 youth union members of the Thanh Thuy Border Guard Station Youth Union.

Sharing about this interesting class, Thanh Chuong District Youth Union Secretary - Nguyen Tu Hai Phong said that through the class, children will be trained in swimming skills as well as how to prevent drowning accidents. At the same time, this is a healthy and safe summer playground for teenagers and children after finishing school. Thereby contributing to promoting propaganda work, raising awareness among people about paying attention to skills training, ensuring the safety of children's lives in the face of situations.drowninghappening in many places like today.

Following the model of Thanh Thuy commune, many youth unions in Thanh Chuong district have also implemented volunteer programs to teach free swimming and promote drowning prevention for local children.

Youth Union members in Thanh Thuy commune (Thanh Chuong district) coordinated with the Youth Union of Thanh Thuy Border Guard Station to directly teach swimming for free to children in the area. Photo: TDNA

Going up the mountain to Tan Ky district, the youth union members here organized 76 communication activities on drowning prevention to all classes of people.

In addition to mobile propaganda, posting leaflets and posters in densely populated areas, agency headquarters and units, the youth force at the youth union bases also went door-to-door to each house with children to exchange necessary knowledge to help minimize the situation of drowning in children. Along with that, organizing summer classes to teach children to swim and installing and repairing hundreds of drowning warning signs were also deployed synchronously.

Up to now, the entire Tan Ky district has organized 43 direct propaganda sessions at schools; distributed 25,000 leaflets, instructed first aid skills for drowning victims, installed 125 new warning signs of dangerous areas on lakes, dams, rivers and streams. The Youth Union bases have applied digital transformation such as showing instructional videos, opening propaganda cartoons to help children easily absorb and practice swimming skills, first aid skills for drowning victims as well as propagating to friends, relatives and people around.

Recently, the Youth Union and Young Pioneers have organized many training programs on first aid skills and drowning prevention for children. Photo: Thanh Quynh

Looking across the province, last June, many youth organizations mobilized social resources to donate life jackets, life buoys and put up drowning warning signs with a total value of tens of millions of VND.

Comrade Thai Minh Sy - Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Youth Union, Chairman of the Provincial Youth Union Council said that Nghe An currently has more than 875,000 children, but only about 29,000 of them know how to swim. Meanwhile, the number of swimming pools in the province is also very limited. Therefore, in recent years, the Youth Union at all levels has organized and implemented many programs and activities to protect children from accidents and injuries, especially drowning.

Many free life jacket donation programs have been implemented by the province's Youth Union and Young Pioneer organizations in recent times. Photo: TDNA

Since the end of May, the Provincial Youth Union Standing Committee and the Provincial Youth Union Council of Nghe An have directed Youth Union and Youth Union organizations at all levels to strengthen propaganda work to change awareness about drowning prevention, targeting not only students but also their parents. At the same time, mobilize all resources to effectively implement models to prevent drowning accidents and injuries for children in a synchronous manner throughout the province./.