A Brimbank resident is backing calls for compulsory swimming lessons in schools.
Last week, coroner Caitlin English recommended that swimming and safety education be skills taught compulsorily in Victoria’s primary schools.
The recommendation followed the inquest into the death of nine-year-old Bailey Patman at Seaford Beach in 2012.
Taylors Lakes resident Mounil Kadakia knows too well the risks of not knowing how to swim. His brother, Rootvij, drowned trying to save a friend caught in a rip at Lake Tyers beach, near Lakes Entrance, in 2009.
Following Rootvij’s death, family and friends set up the Rootvij Kadakia Foundation, working with Life Saving Victoria (LSV) to run programs for tourists, migrants and international students, teaching them the ins and outs of beach safety.
Mr Kadakia said the Read the Beach program helped educate and familiarise this group of people with beach and water safety, especially since many may not have been brought up around beaches.
International students from leading universities, TAFEs and English learning centres have taken part in the successful program for the past six summers.
Mr Kadakia said the coroner’s recommendation to introduce compulsory water education at primary schools was fantastic.
He agreed that swimming and water safety needed to be taught and practised from a young age.
“There’s a gap in the education,” Mr Kadakia said. “Ït’s a big concern if schools are not already teaching students how to swim. The number of drownings we see now will drastically decrease if swimming and water safety education are made compulsory in schools,” Mr Kadakia said.
“By educating just one person, we are helping educate a whole network.”
LSV has started working with Victorian schools and aquatic centres.
The lifesavers’ organisation is currently trialling a before-school swimming and water safety program with years 5 and 6 pupils at two Shepparton primary schools.
The program has already been successful in improving the swimming skills of students.
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Yasemin Talat
