Why Learning to Swim Is Essential for the people of Sindh
By Abdullah Usman Morai | Sweden
In the midst of water, yet deprived of swimming
In Stockholm, it’s quite common to hear friends say, “Let’s meet another day instead,” because their children have a swimming class, often requiring parents to accompany them.
Sindh, a land where every vein and artery flows with the water of the mighty Indus River, connected to the shores of the Arabian Sea, and where devastating floods strike almost every year, in such a region, swimming is still seen as a hobby rather than an essential life skill. This is a deeply unfortunate reality. Despite the fact that every other town or village in Sindh lies close to a water source, be it a river, lake, canal, or sea, most of our children and youth remain completely unaware of the art of swimming.
On the other hand, in developed countries like Sweden, Canada, and Australia, swimming is not just a recreational activity but a compulsory part of school education. There, parents prioritize teaching their children this life-saving skill even before other abilities. In Sweden, a student who fails the swimming test in school is considered to have fallen behind in basic education, because swimming is viewed as a fundamental requirement for personal safety.
It’s time for both the Sindh government and parents to change this mindset. Drowning incidents during floods or in water are tragic and frequent in Sindh’s daily news. Declaring swimming education mandatory is no longer a suggestion; it is a national and social necessity.
A Global Example: Swimming Education in Sweden (The Swedish Model)
Sweden, with its vast coastline and thousands of lakes, has made swimming a national tradition. The inclusion of swimming in the education system as a fundamental skill has strong reasoning behind it.
Swimming ability (Simkunnighet) is a mandatory requirement: every student in Swedish schools must pass an official swimming test by the sixth grade. This test is not just about splashing around; it includes demonstrating essential competencies. Each student must be able to swim at least 200 meters to prove that they can save themselves in an emergency situation.
Additionally, they must swim at least 50 meters on their back, which helps in maintaining balance and breathing while swimming. Interestingly, the test also includes underwater swimming, so that students can find their way even if trapped below the surface during an emergency.
Students who fail this test are given extra training by the school. Sweden firmly believes that until you know how to swim, you are not truly safe in your environment.
The First Step Toward Safety
In Sweden and other developed nations, people often engage in water-related activities, whether for work, transport, or recreation, such as boating, sailing, and swimming. By enforcing swimming education, these governments have significantly reduced accidental deaths caused by drowning. In such countries, swimming education serves as a form of life insurance.
The Responsibility of Developing Countries
If a cold country like Sweden, where the risk of water-related accidents is comparatively low, considers swimming mandatory, then a warm, flood-prone region like Sindh, with its vast water networks and recurring destructive floods, should treat swimming education as a national priority.
Why Sindh Urgently Needs Swimming Education
Swimming in Sindh must be taken out of the realm of mere recreation and recognized as a public safety issue. Here’s why:
- Floods and Natural Disasters
Sindh faces the constant threat of flooding from monsoon rains and overflowing rivers. The devastating floods of 2010, 2011, and 2022 proved that countless innocent lives, including women and children, were lost simply because they didn’t know basic swimming skills. If a significant portion of the population were trained swimmers, not only could they save themselves in emergencies, but they could also help rescue others.
- Deep Connection with Rivers and the Sea
The Indus River, lakes like Keenjhar and Manchar, and the Arabian Sea are integral to the lives of Sindh’s people. Many depend on water for fishing, irrigation, and daily living. Not knowing how to swim directly endangers those whose livelihoods revolve around water.
- Health and Fitness Benefits of Swimming
Swimming is considered one of the best physical exercises in the world. It strengthens all body muscles, helps with weight control, and improves heart health. In Sindh, where opportunities for healthy recreational activities are scarce, access to swimming facilities could contribute significantly to public health and well-being.
Practical Steps to Promote Swimming Education in Sindh
To effectively promote swimming education, the Sindh Education Department should integrate swimming into the school curriculum as a mandatory subject from grades six to ten. Basic swimming proficiency could even be made a small requirement for college or university admission, encouraging youth to take it seriously.
Low-cost public swimming pools should be built, especially in district headquarters, major towns, and large villages, to ensure accessibility. Furthermore, safe portions of existing canals or lakes that are not in use could be converted into training centers. Local swimmers and divers could be trained further and employed as certified swimming instructors.
Most importantly, there should be a public awareness campaign through media and local leadership, emphasizing that learning to swim is not against any cultural or religious values, but is in fact a means of saving lives. Parents should be encouraged to provide safe environments for both daughters and sons to learn swimming equally.
Conclusion
Countries like Sweden treat swimming as a national safety skill. Sindh, with its rivers, lakes, and recurring floods, deserves this education many times over. By promoting swimming literacy, we can not only protect our people from accidental deaths but also offer them healthier, more complete lives.
The need of the hour is for our nation, especially Sindh, to sincerely embrace this truth:
Wisdom lies not in fearing water, but in learning the principles of water.
Read: The Sindhi Soul Across Borders
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Abdullah Soomro, penname Abdullah Usman Morai, hailing from Moro town of Sindh, province of Pakistan, is based in Stockholm Sweden. Currently he is working as Groundwater Engineer in Stockholm Sweden. He did BE (Agriculture) from Sindh Agriculture University Tando Jam and MSc water systems technology from KTH Stockholm Sweden as well as MSc Management from Stockholm University. Beside this he also did masters in journalism and economics from Shah Abdul Latif University Khairpur Mirs, Sindh. He is author of a travelogue book named ‘Musafatoon’. His second book is in process. He writes articles from time to time. A frequent traveler, he also does podcast on YouTube with channel name: VASJE Podcast.
