What is survival swimming in Korean schools?

Is there a swimming class in your school's curriculum? Does your school teach swimming? In Korea, there is a short swimming course, especially in primary schools: saengjon suyeong. What is this, how to do it and why?

What is survival swimming?

Lifesaving swimming refers to a way of life when you get lost on the water until you are rescued. When you fall into the water like the sea, at least you have to live for a while until people bring you out safely. This is the main goal of survival swimming.

Since the catastrophic accident of the sinking of the "Shiyue" ferry, swimming for survival has become very important. Therefore, many people think it is very important to teach students how to survive on water.

At first, it was only aimed at students in the first and second grades of primary school. However, a few years later, it was applied to primary school students of the whole grade. Now, middle school students can also participate.

How is this done?

Unfortunately, unlike Japan, few schools in Korea have swimming pools. Only 1% primary schools have their own swimming pools. Because of this reality, most schools will visit swimming centers. These centers can be used as public swimming centers or operated in universities.

Of course, students need to bring their own swimsuits.

What do the students study?

Let's consider the definition of survival swimming. This is to survive until you are rescued. Therefore, they learned how to survive in water. Therefore, it is not used for swimming lessons at all. They don't learn to swim like ordinary swimming lessons.

In most cases, they learn how to float and keep it that way. At first, they used some materials, such as floating boards, pet bottles and even snack packaging. After they got used to it, they learned to keep floating without anything, including a floating vest. Eventually, they will learn to float on their back and abdomen. At the same time, they also learned how to get along with others.

▲ Students are learning how to float on the water in life jackets.

(▲ Students learn to float on water hand in hand)

If they learn all the courses well, then they can get lost at sea and survive until they are rescued.

Once again, this is not using the word "swimming" to learn how to swim. However, there are still many people who misunderstand the meaning of survival swimming. This means that only 1% primary schools in Korea have their own swimming pools, which is quite new.