A survey recently conducted by the British Heart Foundation found that 73% of students and 75% of teachers and parents believe that the so-called “kiss of life” and other emergency life-saving techniques should be taught in schools, the BBC reports. The BHF interviewed 2,000 parents, 1,000 students and 500 teachers on their thoughts about the teaching of first aid in the classrooms.

The foundation has lobbied to have emergency life support skills such as cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) taught as part of personal, social, health and economic education (PSHE) lessons, along with subjects like citizenship, physical education and science. Maura Gillespie, head of policy and public affairs at the BHF, believes that teaching students first aid could vital:

“Teaching young people how to save a life is as important as learning to read and write. They are skills which equip them for real situations they might face in their lives.”

The spokesman for the Department of Education said that there’s nothing preventing schools from offering more lessons in emergency first aid, but it’s up to school officials to decide how, and if, to offer such lessons:

“We are carrying out a root and branch reform of the national curriculum to set out the essential academic knowledge that children need, while leaving schools free to decide how to teach it. We know that high-quality PSHE is important – that’s why it will remain a compulsory part of the curriculum, but we trust teachers to design lessons to suit their pupils.”