Teach swimming in schools – NADMO advocates as floods sweep 12 children in Ashanti region

The National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO) says it has become imperative for swimming courses to be introduced to pupils in schools following the rising death toll of children under 10 in floods in the Ashanti region, MyNewsGh.com reports.

The latest is the drowning of a six-year-old twin girl at Moshie Zongo, a suburb of the Kumasi metropolis on Monday evening following a torrential downpour that lasted about 30 minutes.

The girl, according to Nsenkyire, “on her way home from school, was swept off her feet by floodwaters, resulting in a huge fall that landed her on a sharp metal, leaving a deep cut on her head; it is suspected that she died from the profuse bleeding”, he told Kumasi-based Angel FM on Tuesday.

“It is sad the way children are being swept away by floodwaters in the Ashanti region in recent times; as at this morning, twelve children have died in floods and it is high time we taught kids how to swim in school; it is very important that we take this step”, he said.

He blamed the phenomenon largely on the “negligence of parents, especially fathers who care less about how and when their children get to school, leaving the responsibility of care entirely on mothers”.

Scores of residents in the Ashanti region have been displaced by the October torrential rains; some have died and properties running into several millions of Ghana Cedis have been lost.

The NADMO has cited logistical constraints as one of its weaknesses in addressing the perennial challenges with flooding in the Ashanti region.

Kwabena Nsenkyire has said his outfit needs an excavator to desilt and widen some gutters and storm drains in the Ashanti region to abate the floods.