By Nancy Nais
KUCHING, May 11: The Fire and Rescue Department (Bomba) Malaysia has initiated a ‘Basic Water Safety Awareness Module’ to expose school children to safety measures when indulging in water activities.
Its director-general, Datuk Mohammad Hamdan Wahid, said the pilot project is currently on trial in schools in Putrajaya.
It includes theories relating to basic guidelines and water safety measures, which will be conducted in the schools, and conducting practical sessions on basic water safety measures at places with swimming pools.
“The module is to create awareness for students with step-by-step instructions on how to swim and save themselves in the water in case of emergency. If this programme is successful, then it will be implemented by Ministry of Education for all schools nationwide in stages,” Hamdan said after the department’s breaking of fast yesterday.
He was referring to the alarming number of death cases last year, where there were about 400 deaths from water accidents and 97 deaths from fire.
He explained that one of the methods to make this campaign successful is that the government would either build swimming pools or conduct it at public swimming pools.
“We can optimise the existing public swimming pools and engage qualified trainers or coaches,” he said, adding that although it involved other communities, the department was targeting primarily on students for now.
Last year, Bomba statistics showed that 40 per cent of deaths in water were teenagers and school students.
When it comes to educating the public, Hamdan said it had to start with school-children as it would be easier to educate them. — DayakDaily
