29 March 2022
# Learning to swim should be prioritised, as an essential skill that all South Africans have, especially children. This is the call from the National Sea Rescue Institute. CEO Cleeve Robertson says on average about fifteen hundred people drown in the country every year and about a third of them are children younger than 14. He says all kids must be taught to swim.
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As part of its Drowning Prevention initiatives the NSRI recently launched the country’s first survival swimming centre. Robertson says it’s a shipping container that features a swimming pool, an office space for the instructor and a change room for the students.
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He says the lack of access to a pool should not stop anyone from teaching kids to swim as there are ways to create a pool. Robertson wants schools across the country to teach swimming as a lifeskill:
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He says parents and caregivers should insist on it.
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Robertson says being confident in the water goes beyond survival:
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