Safe swimmers in Gersthofen: DLRG and AOK start important campaign!

Safe swimmers in Gersthofen: DLRG and AOK start important campaign!

The safety situation in Bavarian waters is becoming worrying: the DLRG is recording an increase in drowning accidents; we count around 80 cases in Bavaria every year. These alarming figures make it even more important that children are trained to be safe swimmers at an early age. As part of the “Safe Swimmers” campaign at the Mozart primary school in Gersthofen, the DLRG Augsburg and the AOK Augsburg directorate express their commitment and rely on structured swimming lessons for primary school students.

Since 2013, the DLRG Augsburg has been running this program in selected schools to promote children's swimming ability. As sport-in-augsburg.de reports, the number of non-swimmers among primary school children has unfortunately increased alarmingly since the beginning: the proportion of non-swimmers has increased from 10 percent in 2017 to now 20 percent doubled. A current Forsa survey also shows that only slightly more than half of primary school children are considered safe swimmers.

“Safe Swimmers” campaign

The “Safe Swimmers” campaign aims to enable children to swim safely in the long term. In the collaboration between the Mozart Elementary School and the Goethe Elementary School, students in grades 3a, 3b and 3c receive professional swimming lessons. Specially trained swimming trainers support the teachers during lessons, which is an essential part of the project. The children who take part in these lessons can look forward to swimming badges and swimming goggles from the AOK in recognition of their progress.

The AOK Augsburg directorate not only highlights the safety aspects of swimming, but also points out the health benefits. Swimming promotes mobility and coordination and helps reduce the risk of accidents. The commitment of the AOK and the DLRG goes hand in hand to sustainably improve children's swimming ability, as fantasy.de emphasizes.

Swimming skills and statistics

According to the DLRG, there are worrying trends in swimming ability. 57 percent of children are rated by their parents as safe swimmers, which represents a slight decrease compared to 2017. In addition, the number of unsafe swimmers is decreasing: 23 percent of this group could not yet be classified as unsafe in 2017. This trend shows that swimming skills improve with age: 26 percent of parents of six-year-olds say their children swim safely, compared to 83 percent of 10-year-olds.

However, the DLRG is not idle. She wants to make it clear that the seahorse is not the end of the story. Many parents mistakenly believe that their children are safe with this badge. The seahorse only certifies mastery of the basics; The bronze swimming badge is required for safe swimming. The DLRG estimates that 58 percent of children are not safe swimmers at the end of primary school. This shows that there really is still room for improvement.

With this important initiative, the DLRG Augsburg and the AOK are working together to reduce drowning accidents and improve swimming skills. A big thank you to all the volunteers who work in this area and work over 50,000 hours a year to increase water safety.