New programme aims to make children learn in the playground too

Right to Play launches programme in schools of Lyari, Korangi and Sultanabad.

KARACHI: All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. But what if Jack could play and work at the same time? A Canada-based humanitarian and development organisation, Right to Play, is all set to introduce a unique pedagogy in over 60 public schools in Karachi where they can learn valuable lessons in the playground. 

To date, the organisation has trained around 400 young people, transforming them into coaches who have organised fun-filled activities in more than 700 partner schools across the country. But it has decided to step up and do more: On Monday, Right to Play announced that it will collaborate with 65 public schools located in Lyari, Korangi and Sultanabad. While talking to the media at the press club, Right to Play’s provincial programme coordinator, Ratan Salem, said that the organisation has commenced its ‘Sport and Play for Peace Programme’ in the city. As a part of its programme, it will work with government schools and use a unique sports-based pedagogy to teach children skills they can use in the real world.

“The objective of the programme is to provide sport and play access to students of government school which are situated in some of the most conflict-ridden areas of the country,” she said. “The educational institutions are likely to become child-friendly places with the introduction of specially designed play-based activities, making it attractive for students.”

Workshops to train 33 young people who will go on to become coaches in the schools and implement the programme have already begun. “In its pilot phase, the programme aims to reach out to over 12,000 children and youth,” said Salem. For this purpose, the instruction manuals that have been used by the organisation in Canada have been translated into Urdu and Sindhi.



Ali Khayam, the organisation’s communication coordinator, explained that the programme aims at introducing the values of fair play, tolerance, respect, leadership and cooperation among students. This will help them become better citizens of Pakistan, he said.

He added that the programme will also train government school teachers in Karachi, encouraging them to explore alternative methods of teaching which might be more fun for students than a traditional classroom lecture. “Sensitising teachers to the damage caused by corporal punishment is another major role of the programme.”

Khayam said that the organisation, in partnership with United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef), commenced its activities in the province in 2011 and had succeeded in creating such an environment in schools that the attitude of students towards learning changed. “The behavioural changes were not limited to children. It also affected the elders - their parents and teachers - as well.”

While considering the infrastructural deficiencies at most of the public schools, many of partnering education institutions  were also provided safe playgrounds for students. “The partner schools have experienced an increase in enrolment as well as better annual examination performance,” said Salem, while quoting a third-party evaluation.

Based on its experience of working with children in regions where conflict has broken out and natural disasters have struck, Right to Play has impacted the lives of around 165,000 children in 15 districts, including Mardan, Mansehra, Thatta, Mirpurkhas and Umerkot since 2008. Karachi is going to be the 16th ‘district’ that the programme will change, said Salem.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 19^th, 2013.