BASA Brunei

25th July, on World Drowning Prevention Day, Every Child, Water Ready went live.

Water safety education now has a home in the Brunei classroom.

This campaign exists because people stepped up.

Organised by Brunei Aquatics and Blue Whale Water Safety.

Supported by the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports, and the Ministry of Health.

Founding Sponsors: Imagine and BIBD.
Founding Partners: Royal Brunei Airlines, Mulia Hotel and D'Sunlit.

Thank you, Brunei. This is day one.

Training has begun.

This week at the Jury Room, 25 teachers from 13 pilot schools sit down for 2 days of water safety training.

Leading the room: Nari Shin, founder of Blue Whale Water Safety and author of *Marie and the Blue Whale*, who flew in from Seoul for this.

By Thursday, these teachers walk out as certified water safety educators.

Their students inherit everything they learn here.

Take a look inside the room.

300,000 lives in a single year. That is the global cost of drowning.

The WHO Global Status Report on Drowning Prevention (2024) counted more than 300,000 drowning deaths in 2021. For children aged 5 to 14, drowning is the third leading cause of death worldwide.

Most children only learn about water safety when they learn to swim. For too many, that lesson comes too late.

Every Child, Water Ready teaches children to recognise risk and stay calm in the seconds before panic takes over. In the classroom, from age 5.

Share this with a parent or a teacher. That is how prevention spreads.

Something new reaches Brunei's classrooms on 25 July.

On World Drowning Prevention Day, Brunei Aquatics and Blue Whale Water Safety launch

Every Child, Water Ready.

A water safety education campaign for children aged 5 to 8, taught by their own teachers, inside the classroom.

Thirteen pilot schools. 25 educators to be trained.

Water safety in Brunei starts long before a child ever enters a pool. It starts with how they think.

Follow this page. The full story rolls out over the next two weeks.

Three of Brunei's national swimmers in Joel Ling, Hayley Wong and Sharmeen Mohammad Mharvin, will proudly represent Brunei Darussalam at the 23rd Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland, taking place from 23 July to 2 August.

The swimmers officially received the national flag during the Flag Handover Ceremony held at the Hassanal Bolkiah National Stadium, where the flag was presented by His Royal Highness Prince Haji Sufri Bolkiah, President of the Brunei Darussalam National Olympic Council.

The team will be accompanied by newly appointed Head Coach Arilson Champam De Almeida.

As they prepare to compete against some of the best athletes in the Commonwealth, we wish Joel, Hayley and Sharmeen all the very best!

🇧🇳 Another National Record for Brunei!

This morning at the 33rd SEA Games 2025, Joel Ling raced the 200m Backstroke at the Sports Authority of Thailand Swimming Pool, and once again, he delivered.

Joel touched the wall in 2:11.41, setting a new Brunei Open National Record.

This didn’t happen overnight. With hard work, patience, and belief, the perseverance had paid off.

Congratulations on another national record, Joel!🇧🇳