Shaik Zia Ur Rehman, IB PSPE Educator, Srinidhi International School, Hyderabad, Telangana, explains why swimming education must prioritise survival skills over quick results. He points out that water can be fun and refreshing to everyone, especially the youngsters, but it must always be approached with great care. Good swimming training should combine technique with safety awareness. Strong and safe swimming training helps learners develop the skills needed to swim confidently and responsibly.
Water has always fascinated children. It is refreshing, playful, and full of excitement. For many families, swimming is associated with recreation, holidays, and summer camps. Parents proudly encourage their children to learn swimming, believing it is a healthy and valuable skill.
However, swimming is much more than a recreational activity or sport. It is one of the few physical skills that can truly save a life. For this reason, swimming education should not be viewed only as a sport but also as an important form of safety education.
“Swimming is not just about crossing a pool. It is about surviving the water.”
Rise of fast-track swimming programmes
In recent years, a growing trend has emerged in swimming instruction—fast-track programmes that promise to teach children how to swim in five, ten, or twenty days. These programmes attract many parents who hope their children can quickly acquire the skill.
In today’s fast-paced world, speed and quick results are often valued. Yet when it comes to swimming education, speed should never replace safety. Teaching a child to move their arms and legs in water within a short time may create the appearance of learning, but it does not necessarily prepare them for real-life water situations.
This misunderstanding often becomes clear only during tragic incidents. In 2014, a group of college students from Hyderabad travelled to northern India for a holiday. During their visit, an unexpected flash flood occurred, and several students were swept away by the powerful current. The incident shocked the nation. In the aftermath, many parents asked a heartbreaking question: “My child knew how to swim. What happened?”
Swimming versus survival
This question reveals a common misconception about swimming. When most people say someone knows how to swim, they usually mean the person can move across a swimming pool using basic kicks and arm movements. In many classes, once a child manages to cross the pool or swim a short distance, the learning process is considered complete.
However, true swimming ability is much more complex. Real water competence includes the ability to remain calm in difficult situations, control breathing, manage fear, and understand how to respond when conditions in the water suddenly change.
Natural water bodies such as rivers, lakes, and oceans behave very differently from swimming pools. They may contain strong currents, waves, uneven surfaces, or sudden changes in depth. In such environments, survival skills become more important than speed.
Often-ignored skill: breathing
One of the most essential yet often neglected aspects of swimming education is breathing control. Humans naturally breathe through the nose without thinking about it. Swimming, however, requires a different breathing pattern where inhalation is taken through the mouth and coordinated with body movement in water.
For children, this adjustment takes time and repeated practice. Without proper breathing control, even small discomfort in water can quickly create panic and anxiety.
Helping children overcome fear
Another critical aspect of swimming education is fear management. Many children feel nervous when they first enter the water, and this reaction is completely natural. Confidence in water cannot be built through pressure or force.
Instead, children should be introduced to water gradually in a supportive and positive environment. When learners feel relaxed and emotionally secure, they become more willing to explore, practise, and build confidence.
In my experience as a physical education and swimming educator, children respond best when learning takes place through playful and engaging activities. When breathing control, water familiarity, and balance are developed through simple games and interactive tasks, children begin to trust the water and their own abilities.
Role of schools and parents
Swimming education should also include basic water safety awareness. Many accidents occur when individuals attempt to rescue someone in difficulty without understanding the risks. Children should learn that helping someone in water must always be done safely—often by reaching with an object, throwing a floating aid, or seeking assistance rather than entering the water without training.
Schools play an important role in promoting swimming as a life skill. Where facilities are available, swimming programmes should focus not only on strokes and distance but also on safety awareness and survival skills.
Parents also play a crucial role. Instead of focusing on how quickly a child learns to swim, it is more meaningful to observe whether the child is becoming comfortable, confident, and aware of water safety.
Swimming should never be treated as a race against time. It is a gradual learning process that requires patience, consistent practice, and supportive guidance.
Swimming as a life skill
When schools, parents, and instructors prioritise safety over speed, children gain far more than the ability to cross a pool. They develop respect for water, emotional confidence, and the knowledge needed to respond calmly in unexpected situations.
Swimming, when taught with care and responsibility, becomes more than a sport. It becomes a powerful life skill—one that protects lives, builds resilience, and prepares individuals to approach water with confidence and awareness.
Because in the end, the goal of swimming education is not simply to create swimmers—it is to create individuals who understand water, respect it, and know how to stay safe within it.
Shaik Zia Ur Rehman is an IB PSPE educator at Srinidhi International School, Hyderabad, and a UN SDSN Global Schools Advocate. With over two decades of experience in swimming instruction and aquatic safety, he focuses on integrating physical literacy, wellbeing, and safety education to help children build confidence and lifelong skills in and around water.
Contact details
Shaik Zia Ur Rehman
IB, PSPE Educator, Srinidhi International School, Hyderabad, Telangana
M: 9032833783
E: szrehman11@gmail.com