WHY Thai people really need to learn swimming?
- From the statistic surveys by the bureau of the non-communicable diseases, department of diseases control, ministry of health demonstrates a clear percentage of the cause of death for under 14 years old Thai child. The average of dead child are 3300 per year and 47%, which is around 1551 child, die from drown in the water. The drown kids percentage is even higher than the dead cause by accident. In addition to that, at least 80% of the dead kid cannot swim and they usually drown within the radius of 100 meters around their house, which is very dangerous, unpredictable, and hard to prevent. Furthermore, from this information, the ministry of health predicts that if this problem does not get fix seriously in the year 2020, around 17,000 kids will be drown each year. Right now at this time only 16 percent of children, know how to swim. That means only 2 million children can swim can the rest, 11 million cannot.
- Floods occur every year in Thailand, especially the recent one that damage the capital, Bangkok. We can see the weakness in Thai education system from this event. There are more than 800 bodies and 2.2 million people are effected. The statistic demonstrates that around 80 percent drown. If we focus on more detail, the percentage of drowning from this flood in Bangkok is only 57.8 percent, this can reflect to the education program in the country (about introducing people to swimming) and clarify the difference in capability of the life guard in the capital and in the country.
WHY do most Thai cannot swim?
- 1.Thai ministry of education learning area does not specify swimming in their learning area. They only mention that Grade 11-12 “Do physical exercise and play sports suitable to themselves regularly and use their capacities for increasing the potential of the team, decreasing egoism, and bearing in mind the effects on society.” (Page 201) They also do not set up the standard for private swimming lesson.
- Thai school don’t have swimming, only the large school or private school contain swimming pool. If they have one it is still a worthless swimming lesson because as we know each class in some famous Thai school contain up to 60 students per class and they are only one or two teachers teach them swimming in one period, which is normally 50 to 60 minutes and they only have about 4 to 8 period of swimming per year. That is one of the reason that answer why 11 million children cannot swim.
- Water Pollution and the lack of public pool: In this time most of the river, canal, pond and lake are polluted, which do not suitable for children to jump in and swim. In addition with Thailand do not have free public pool for the population to use and learn swimming.
- Time: As I mention that most people that cannot swim is the poor. This group of people does not spend much time with their children. Therefore, nobody teach them swimming. Along with children do not see the important of swimming and usually spent their time on studying, go out with friends or working instead of practice swimming, which take quite a long time to learn and to swim for far distance.
- Cost: Swimming lesson is not cheap lesson to take and in people opinion it is not a necessary course. Therefore, the poor usually does not afford it.