Nghe An: Still learning to swim on paper

These are the shortcomings that arose during an inspection by the Department of Education and Training in Nghia Dan district regarding the work of preventing and combating accidents, injuries, and drowning today (June 2).

Budget allocation to equip swimming pools for schools

Implementing the plan of the Department of Education and Training, today the inspection team of the Department of Education and Training led by Mr. Nguyen Trong Hoan - Chief of Office, head of the team inspected the work of preventing accidents, injuries, drowning and safety at schools in Nghia Dan district.

Checking the implementation of the Education sector's guidelines on drowning prevention at May 1 High School. Photo: My Ha

According to the report of the Department of Education and Training of Nghia Dan district, since the beginning of the year, the department has advised the district People's Committee to issue 3 documents directing the work of preventing and combating accidents, injuries and drowning. On that basis, the department has directed schools to develop plans from the beginning of the school year and established a consulting team to organize inspections of the work of preventing and combating accidents, injuries and drowning at all levels of education.

In the area, many units have implemented the construction of Safe Houses, Safe Schools and Safe Communities, preventing accidents and injuries to children, to eliminate the risk of drowning for children.

At the same time, pay attention to supporting, investing in equipment and facilities to teach swimming to children; training and coaching to improve the quality of swimming teachers, teaching safety skills in the water environment.

Over the years, Nghia Dan District Youth Union has coordinated with organizations and units to place hundreds of signs to prevent drowning. Photo: My Ha

Specifically, in the past 2 years, the whole district has organized 55 propaganda sessions on drowning prevention, with the participation of more than 13,000 students.

In addition, 27 swimming classes were organized with nearly 1,700 students participating. The district allocated budget to invest in mobile swimming pools in 8 schools and has a modern fixed swimming pool in a non-public kindergarten.

There are still many difficulties in the implementation process.

On June 2, through inspections at a number of kindergartens, primary schools, secondary schools and high schools in Nghia Hoi, Nghia Trung, Nghia Binh communes... the delegation found that the schools had quite seriously implemented the directives of the superiors. Through that, propaganda on drowning prevention was organized with many specific tasks such as propaganda at the flag-raising ceremonies at the beginning of the week, through loudspeakers, coordination with functional agencies... especially focusing on propaganda in high-risk areas with many potential dangers.

However, through the inspection, the delegation found that there are still many difficulties in the work of preventing and combating drowning. In fact, Nghia Dan district is too large, the number of ponds, lakes and dams is spread evenly across the district. Therefore, the installation of warning signs and drowning rescue equipment is not sufficient to respond when an emergency occurs.

However, due to people's awareness, some signs have been removed. In the photo is Bau Lang 2 dam (Nghia Trung commune) with a large area, a power line across which is potentially dangerous, but at the time of inspection there were no prohibition signs. Photo: My Ha

In fact, this morning, after checking a number of ponds and lakes, although the youth groups had posted warning signs of danger because it was fishing season, some lakes had their signs removed, posing a potential danger.

In addition, facilities for drowning prevention and control are still lacking, such as life jackets, swimming pools, etc. Organizing swimming lessons in schools is also facing many difficulties due to dependence on social mobilization or local funding. In addition, in the dry season, many schools are dry, so water shortages often occur and there is not enough for swimming pools to operate (such as Nghia Trung Primary and Secondary School, etc.).

Therefore, although swimming teaching is very urgent, in reality it is still mainly limited to theory and lacks conditions for practice and real-life experience.

Through visual forms, many forms of propaganda about school safety have been popularized to students. Photo: My Ha

Also on this day, the delegation inspected safety work at schools, school violence prevention work and tree safety. Thereby, the delegation requested schools to raise awareness of absolute safety protection for students at schools.

In particular, do not be subjective before the rainy and stormy season is approaching. In addition, schools also need to review trees according to the latest document of the Department to proceed with cutting down damaged and termite-infested trees.

Many trees in schools are infested with pests and require removal or treatment of damaged sections. Photo: My Ha

During the inspection, the delegation also directed schools to continue to consult with local authorities, coordinate well with mass organizations inside and outside the school to grasp the situation, discuss coordination measures to prevent and stop unfortunate incidents from happening.

Nghia Hoi Secondary School's swimming pool has been equipped for 2 years but up to now, swimming lessons have not been implemented because students are still studying in the main curriculum. In the 2019-2020 period, Nghia Dan district organized 27 swimming classes with nearly 1,700 students participating. Photo: My Ha

In addition to Nghia Dan district, today, many inspection teams also inspected Ky Son district and Hoang Mai town. It is expected that by mid-June, the team will have a specific report in the localities.

According to an incomplete report by the Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs of Nghe An province, from the beginning of the year to May 25, there were 11 drowning incidents in the province, killing 12 children. Most of these drowning incidents occurred in May. However, this data only counts victims under 16 years old. There are many other tragic drowning incidents, in which the victims were high school students over 16 years old, which are not included in this report.