After her eldest son, Amanto, became one of the 50 children to drown on an average day in Bangladesh, Jahanara Anwar was determined that his younger brother would join the world’s biggest swimming lesson.
“I’d promised to send him to a swimming center once his exams were over, but didn’t realize how important it was,” she said, recalling the day in 2011 when Amanto, 14, went to play in a nearby canal and never came home. “Now there can be no doubt how important it is... I don’t want any mother to suffer the agony I’ve been through.”
About 18,000 children drown each year in Bangladesh — a daily average of just over 49 — making it the leading cause of death among children aged one to 17.
Photo: AFP
In a nation criss-crossed by deltas, plagued by floods during the monsoon season, and where about a quarter of the 160 million population live by the sea, the dangers are part of everyday life.
However, few youngsters can swim, as most parents are reluctant to pay for lessons while struggling to make ends meet in one of the world’s poorest nations.
Earlier this year, the Bangladeshi government announced it would make it mandatory for all schoolchildren to learn to swim, making it the most ambitious mass swimming program ever attempted.
While other countries such as Australia have made swimming lessons compulsory, the scale of Bangladesh’s plan is unrivaled — no country has ever set itself such a large target and it is expected to be several years before every youngster takes the plunge.
“We are aiming to teach almost 40 million children aged between five and 17 years how to swim,” said Farhana Haque, a senior official in the Bangladeshi Ministry of Education, which is in charge of the project.
“I believe it is the biggest swimming program to have ever been conducted at one time,” Haque told reporters.
Given the shortage of proper swimming centers, the government has ordered schools to use local ponds as an alternative, while the UN’s children’s fund UNICEF is making giant inflatable pools available along with helping to fund or run some of the lessons.
On a chilly Sunday morning in the capital, Dhaka, a group of about a dozen boys and girls were taking a dip in one of the UNICEF pools, just about able to stand in the 1.2m of water.
“Before I was so scared of water. Now I feel so excited to come here,” said 10-year-old Kobita Akhter, beaming with pride after completing a length, before paddling back to rejoin her friends at the other end.
Amy Delneuville, a UNICEF child protection specialist, said trainers had received a warm reception, including in rural areas where the idea of girls in swimming costumes might have been frowned upon.
“As there are so many water bodies in Bangladesh, drowning for children is a very serious issue here,” she said. “People are very happy with the program. They know how dangerous water can be.”
As well as teaching youngsters how to swim, older teenagers are being taught how to carry out the training themselves.
Some of the deadliest drowning accidents occur when ferries ploughing Bangladesh’s vast river network, packed way beyond capacity, capsize. The distance between shores can be vast, so a heavy toll is almost inevitable.
At least 78 people drowned in February when a ferry sank after colliding with a cargo vessel on the Padma River, a channel of the mighty Ganges.
Seated with her four-year-old daughter while crossing an 18km stretch of the Padma, Shabana Begum said that neither can swim.
“We are relying on the will of Allah that nothing happens to us,” the 22-year-old said on the lower deck, with only a handful of lifebelts for dozens of passengers.
The ferry’s captain, Sharif Musharraf Hossain, said it is a particularly dangerous stretch of water.
“The number of people onboard is not the main issue, the ferries are small and the currents in Padma are strong,” Hossain said. “During calamities people get scared and start running randomly on the deck because they don’t know what to do.”
Although few are as intimidating as the Padma, there are more than 230 rivers in Bangladesh, which frequently burst their banks.
Scenes of waist-high water flooding Dhaka’s streets and those of other cities are commonplace during the monsoon season from June to October.
Now that her surviving son, Ananto, is learning to swim, Anwar is confident the eight-year-old will not only be able to save himself if disaster strikes, but also help others.
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