Debated in Parliament on 5 Apr 2021.
Mr Gerald Giam Yean Song asked the Minister for Education (a) whether all Primary schools complete the SwimSafer 2.0 programme as part of their physical education curriculum; (b) what percentage of the 2020 cohorts of Primary 6 and Secondary 4 students have completed at least (i) stage 1 (ii) stage 2 and (iii) stage 3 of the programme; and (c) how does the Ministry ensure that all local school students have basic swimming proficiency and water survival skills to minimise drowning incidents.
Swimming is one of the key learning areas in the Physical Education syllabus and all primary schools leverage on the SwimSafer programme by SportSG to equip students with basic swimming and water survival skills.
Schools typically enrol the entire Primary 3 cohort for the programme. In 2018, an enhanced SwimSafer 2.0 was launched. Based on 2019 data, an average of 83%, 55% and 39% of participants met at least Stage 1, 2 and 3 requirements respectively. As the programme was suspended for a large part of 2020 due to COVID, the 2020 cohort is still in the process of resuming their SwimSafer programme. Students who fail Stage 1 have the opportunity to go through a remediation programme and be re-tested. To ensure all students have access to the programme, it is fully funded by MOE and is typically conducted during curriculum time.
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