Swimming and safety in sync

Water safety is at the top of the curriculum at one of Bahrain’s leading private schools, as the American School of Bahrain (ASB) announced a collaboration with Royal Life Saving Bahrain (RLSB), writes Naman Arora.

As part of a holistic 21st century education, the ASB’s partnership with the charitable organisation will underscore a water safety curriculum that includes providing swimming lessons and lifeguard services to support its physical education and athletics programmes.

“We are incredibly excited to be collaborating with ASB on this important initiative,” said Shaikha Nayla bint Hamad bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa, deputy chairperson of the Al-Mabarrah Al-Khalifia Foundation (MKF) and chairperson of RLSB.

“Based on our research, 95 per cent of children in Bahrain do not learn to swim as part of their primary school curriculum.

“We believe through this partnership we are able to train many more children and equip them with the necessary skills needed to be competent swimmers. Swimming is an essential life skill and it is the only sport that can save a person’s life.”

According to a report by the RLSB last year, more than 47pc of children in Bahrain do not know how to swim.

Under its pillar of community leadership, the school is also exploring plans to make its facilities available to schools that don’t have swimming pools.

These schools would be able to participate in RLSB’s internationally-certified programme which is based on a combination of global best practice and local context.

“We are excited to enter into a partnership with RLSB,” said Dave McMaster, founding director of ASB.

“Staff and students at ASB are blessed to teach and learn in a world-class facility, and with this privilege comes responsibility.

“We are very much looking forward to working side by side with RLSB to give schools without access to a swimming pool, an opportunity to help their students learn how to swim, and save lives in the process.”

RLSB and ASB will also be working together to teach first aid, training people on how to save lives and prevent drowning, made possible by the charitable organisation’s employment of certified swimming coaches and lifeguards to support ASB’s curriculum.

For more details, follow @americanschoolbahrain on Instagram.