Children demand right to play at city-based conference

A children's panel led by well-known filmmaker Amole Gupte flagged key gaps around children's right to play at a discussion held at the SVT College, SNDT University.

The panel was talking at Kaleidoscope 2015, a conference organized by the International Play Association-India, the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, SVT College and Magic Bus around children's rights to participation and play.

"Lack of play spaces makes patients out of children," said Amole Gupte, explaining the importance of play in children's lives. Talking about his experience growing up as a child in Mumbai, he said, "Parks in the city get closed at 10.00 a.m. and open again at 4.00 p.m. This goes against a simple right of every child to a play space whenever she wants to play."

Breaking the myths around play, 12 years old Sanjay said, "I played football for 2 hours on the day before my exam and still scored 70/80. I get more energy to study if I play well."

"Our cities are not very child friendly," said Jagan Shah, Director, National Institute of Urban Affairs. "When we talk about making sustainable cities, who is it going to be sustainable for, if not out children.

Three key action points the children and experts agreed to are:

1. An advocacy effort will be started with school managements and others to keep school grounds open for play after school hours.

2. A petition will be made to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation to keep all public parks open for play.

3. Children will audit any 2 cities for child-friendliness.

Source : Equity Bulls

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