Experts warn of declining swimming skills among youth amid recent drownings
Following two recent drownings in Ostend and Ghent, experts are raising concerns about declining swimming skills among young people. They are opposed to removing swimming from the primary school curriculum, Het Nieuwsblad reports.
Last week, a 16-year-old boy drowned at Ostend, and in Ghent, a 19-year-old fell into a coma after swimming in the Blaarmeersen lake and later died.
Lifeguards emphasise the dangers of undercurrents in open water and say the swimming abilities of some young people are inadequate.
Tine Sleurs, a lecturer in physical education at UC Leuven-Limburg university college, conducted a survey among 486 primary schools. She found that 28 per cent of these schools had reduced swimming lessons in the past year, citing cost and a shortage of teachers as the main reasons.
While swimming remains part of the final curriculum in primary education, it is no longer compulsory in secondary education. Sleurs warns of the risks of creating a generation that is "swimming poor" and wants to see more emphasis on swimming in the regular education system.
"It would be useful to organise a series of swimming lessons every year," she said, focusing on the dangers of open water.
#FlandersNewsService | © PHOTO ARTERRA
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