Safety is no joke, both on land and in the water. Water safety is an important aspect that children need to be taught about but is often overlooked. Children may act less careful around places with large bodies of water. This is especially when they get overly excited, and want to play and have fun. For example, around swimming pools, rivers, waterfalls, and the seaside. However, knowing the proper procedure when faced with an emergency in the water can save your child’s life.
Next year, water safety will be included in the Form Four Bahasa Malaysia textbook. Textbook author Zanariah Abdol said that QR codes would be available in the textbook, according to The Star. This would allow students to scan the codes and access videos, audio, and photos for further elaboration of the lesson.
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The Importance of Water Safety Knowledge
Next, Zanariah also said that the objective of the lesson was so that students would know what to look out for before entering the water. She explained that children would often just jump into the water while disregarding aspects of water safety such as water confidence, breathing skills, floating, and treading water. The topic of water safety is in line with the Education Ministry’s plan to add water safety and life-saving techniques into the school syllabus.
Zanariah also explained that these lessons are not meant to be taken as swimming techniques. Instead, these are important basic safety guidelines that people often take lightly. By including this topic into the textbook, students who do not have access to a pool can also be exposed to such information about life skills.
Recently, the Education Ministry introduced the Life-Saving Skills Programme and Water Safety and Rescue Awareness Module for Malaysian Schools. Education Minister Dr Maszlee Malik said the aim of the new programme was to reduce drowning cases and water-related accidents near any body of water, according to The Star. The module also intends to increase students’ water safety knowledge, skills, and experience. It would also teach students about rescue and life-saving skills in water.
Given that Malaysia has such a high amount of coastal areas, as well as many rivers, lakes, and even disused mining pools throughout the country, this addition to the syllabus is a good move. Including knowledge of water safety can raise awareness about the dangers of water, and promote safe behaviour around bodies of water.
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