Issue date: May 1, 2025
Issuing unit: School Physical Education Division
Unit contact person: Miss Lin Chuen-fei
Tel.: (02)87711016
Media contact person: Section Chief Wang Li-heng
(02)8771-1018
E-mail：heng@mail.sa.gov.tw
Taiwan enters the water activity high season in May each year. During the Dragon Boat Festival holiday and after students finish their midterms or graduation exams, they relax and often go swimming or engage in water activities with friends. This period is a key time for drowning incidents. To promote safety, the Sports Administration (SA) has planned the “Student Water Safety Carnival” to be held in Anping, Tainan, May 30–31, alongside the Tainan International Dragon Boat Championship. The event will use fun, interactive games to raise awareness of drowning prevention and teach self-rescue skills.
This year’s theme for the Student Water Safety Carnival is: “攏做伙 (‘Lōng Tsò Hué’, a Taiwanese homophone for ‘Dragon Boat Gathering’), Team Up for Water Safety.” The phrase, in friendly Taiwanese dialect, means that water safety is not just one person’s responsibility—it requires a joint effort to protect each other’s precious lives. The carnival features a water safety education module based on the four “S” elements: Situation, Strategy, Simulation, and Share. It also features an immersive checkpoint challenge game titled “Water Hero Special Mission.” Visitors can participate in these activities, which will use logic puzzles and on-site simulations to help them naturally learn water safety knowledge and drowning self-rescue techniques. Those who complete the challenges can also win desirable prizes and enter a raffle for bigger prizes.
The Student Water Safety Carnival is very popular. This year, the event has been expanded to two days. As well as existing water activity experiences such as stand-up paddleboard (SUP) and canoeing, a new free activity—dragon boat board experience—has been added. The SA has also invited hip-hop dance clubs from high schools across Taiwan to participate in the youthful “Water Safety GO Dance Challenge.” Through energetic and creative performances, the students will help promote water safety awareness, injecting fresh enthusiasm into drowning prevention education.
The Student Water Safety Carnival has invited key partners in water safety to take part. These include public institutions such as the National Academy of Marine Research, Tainan City Fire Department, and National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology. Private organizations participating include Siung Sport, the Chinese Taipei Underwater Federation, and the Tainan Water Sports Development Association. This collaborative effort brings together diverse units to jointly promote the importance of water safety.
The SA stated that the annual Student Water Safety Carnival is aligned with the World Health Organization’s (WHO) global drowning prevention policies. In the WHO’s 2024 report, drowning is described as “an urgent and often overlooked global health issue.” The message, “Anyone can drown, no one should,” serves as a strong reminder that every life is precious and should not be lost to drowning. Through the carnival, the SA hopes to raise public awareness about water safety. By uniting the efforts of both government and private sectors, the aim is to comprehensively promote water safety education for students. The aim is to ensure that young people can enjoy water activities safely and happily in the heat of summer.
Let’s all “Team Up for Water Safety” by spreading the seeds of water safety awareness back to our schools, homes, and every corner of Taiwan.