Earlier this week the government released details of the new curriculum for UK schools. There was a glaring omission from the document which represented, in our opinion, a huge missed opportunity – statutory first aid education for pupils.
You may recall Aid Training’s Twitition campaign earlier this year, which urged the government to bring this crucial skill to schoolchildren around the country. Many other organisations campaigned for this same cause, yet our collective voices have disappointingly still been ignored.
Aid Training’s sentiments are echoed by the British Red Cross, who were arguably the highest profile supporters of the cause. The organisation’s Head of Policy, Research and Advocacy Jonathan Ellis believes that the “decision by government to ignore our calls today will rob the nation of a generation of responsible life-savers in the future.” We couldn’t agree more.
A study by St. John’s Ambulance suggested that around 140,000 people in the UK die in instances where first aid could have saved them. We strongly believe that if people learned first aid skills from an early age, this number would be reduced significantly. Despite this setback, we’re still determined to make the government take note and strongly believe that one day we’ll see all children learning first aid at school.
Aid’ s Trainers have trained many children from schools where the teaching staff and parents agree that First Aid is a fundamental life skill. We hope the numbers continue to increase as the media report more and more heart warming stories of children saving the lives of those around them.
If you’d like to know more about first aid, here’s a list of our courses.