Skillz4life managing director, Jackie Foster, is calling for mandatory swimming education as part of curriculum for all school children, year one through to year eight, currently it is only mandatory through to year six.

2021 saw 90 people die in our waters and 2022 saw 93, it’s a national disgrace especially as our country is surrounded by water and swimming, diving is what a lot of kiwis do for recreation.

“Eight people have drowned in 72 hours and it’s a national disgrace” Foster.

Foster went on to say, “so many school pools around Aotearoa have been decommissioned and current school pools are struggling to get the funding to stay open. The government should be supporting the funding of those school pools and seeing where more can be built.

So many of our tamariki are not being taught to swim properly and the government needs to invest heavily in swimming education right through until the end of intermediate school level.

Take English for example, yes, we all need to speak but that isn’t saving lives. Common sense tells us it would save lives and it would save so much devastation and heart break”.

Skillz4life is an organisation that provides swimming lessons and water safety instruction in schools in the Auckland region and Jackie and her team are committed to bringing change in education policy so all of Aotearoa tamariki are safe in the water doing what we all love.

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