by Zoha Jillani, CfC Volunteer
A core aspect of Cities for Children’s mission to protect the “Right to a Childhood”, is the Right to Play. The role of play in a child’s life is essential for early learning, understanding and brain development. It is also closely linked to positive mental health.
In order to open up a conversation on the importance of play, on 4th August 2020, Cities for Children hosted a unique panel of remarkable speakers, in collaboration with British Council Pakistan. These included:
- Dr. Paul Ramchandani, the first LEGO Professor of Play in Education, Development and Learning at Cambridge University
- Ms. Umbreen Arif, senior Education Advisor to the Federal Government of Pakistan
- Dr. Nishat Riaz MBE, Director Education at the British Council
- Madeeha Ansari, our Founder, as moderator.
Setting the Stage
To start off, Dr. Ramchandani – a consultant child and adolescent psychiatrist by training – explains the importance of early childhood in preparing a child for their future. He states that a child’s well-being, safety, play and learning are linked together very closely. His expertise and vast knowledge breaks down the psyche of a child’s brain.
“Billions of brain cells and neurons are present in the childs brain from the day they are born. These are not just there, they are actively developing. Learning is happening all the time.”
The development of a child’s brain in its earliest stages is absolutely mind blowing, and it is in fact, the earliest stages of a child’s life that shape them into the kind of person they become later on.
“We know from developing body research that early experiences that children have, make a huge development to this brain development. So, things can change later in life but the outlying trajectory of what’s possible is set quite early so the kind of parameters that a child has are set quite early.”
What we took away from this was that essentially, our job as educators, caretakers, and parents in this crucial time is to instill happy memories into the child’s brain. For them to look back, and be content with the accumulation of their childhood memoirs. For that, we have to provide them with a positive and nurturing environment to grow in, not just physically but also mentally and spiritually.
They should have a safe space, where they can truly express their feelings through play and various other tools. Play is the child’s way of exploring and understanding the world. It helps them learn how social relationships work and are formed. As Dr. Paul said,
“All the time children are doing this learning about the social world and they’re like young scientists exploring the world. Play is a critical part of all of that particularly for younger children – as children grow up, it underpins a lot of these aspects of learning and development.”
The challenges for Pakistan
As a country, Pakistan was already facing academic challenges, in terms of education quality and access. As Nishat Riaz shared, “45% of children in rural areas of Pakistan at the Grade 5 level can’t understand sentences meant for Grade 2.”
These challenges were greatly exacerbated by the lockdown caused by COVID-19, with worrying implications in terms of learning losses for children. However, as Umbreen Arif shared, the government was quick to respond and worked to minimize the extent of the damage. There are over 300,000 schools across Pakistan, so organising this is surely not as easy a process. At the same time, as Umbreen shared,
“Sometimes when you’re faced with challenges you find opportunities that you do not find in normal circumstances.”
There is light at the end of the tunnel, and this ordeal provided some space for institutions and educators worldwide to rethink their approach and move away from “boxed learning.” In Pakistan, the government took this opportunity to explore technological advancement for education and was able to start a nation-wide digital platform known as Tele-school. This concept has found a way of incorporating academic learning in a playful manner into the homes of the learners, with the support of partners.
Additional plans include creating processes and SOPs to follow for when the schools open, to ensure children’s safety while also ensuring that learning continues.
Reimagining education
At this critical juncture, there is the opportunity to address what Nishat described as a “crisis of creative learning.” Part of this can come through training programmes for teachers, equipping them with new skills and new ways of thinking. As Nishat shared, during the time of school closures there was a large appetite on the part of teachers for training courses through which they could upskill – and as the frontline workers, they will need additional support to address both mental health and educational needs of children returning to school in an ongoing crisis.
As they return, it is really important to give children that the support and opportunities to express themselves, at their own pace comfortably. Play and playful methods can play a powerful role in terms of reinforcing learning, motivating children to attend school and building the resilience to cope with tough situations.
Our take – investing in happiness
As advocates of playful methods, we are keen to ensure that new and innovative techniques are explored to help children return to school. We know from our Hasti Basti (Happy Hoods) projects that creative methods can be powerful tools to build socioemotional skills for children, equipping them for life. As Madeeha said, “We have seen shy children gain confidence and confident children act with empathy and build friendships with others. We’ve also seen children facing really difficult circumstances, like separation from their families, smile – and for us, that matters.”
There is scientific evidence showing that positive experiences can actually change the way the brain looks and develops and how it responds to stress. As said by Nishat Riaz,
“It’s in our hands to carve the future.”
We hope to make it a happy one!