Vietnam had been taking measures to teach children how to swim in recent years, but more than 2,000 children still died from drowning annually.

Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam made the statement at a ceremony to launch a programme to teach children and adults how to swim and avoid the dangers posed by water, which was organised in Hanoi, May 19.

Deputy PM Dam said that since 2016, only 1,000 out of the 50,000 schools nationwide had taught their students how to swim and avoid drowning.

Only 1,000 out of 11,000 communes had implemented the programme to teach more people how to swim and to prevent child drowning.

A report from the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs showed that from 2010-15, more than 3,000 children died from drowning per year due to a lack of swimming skills, poor supervision and natural disasters.

Decision 234/QD-TTg issued by Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc on February 5, 2016 states that by 2020, the number of child deaths from drowning must be cut by at least six per cent from 2015. The number of children being taught how to swim must increase by 40 percent.

VNA/VNP