“Earlier I used the stick to discipline children but since I learnt of the importance of Child
Rights through trainings imparted by Right To Play Pakistan, I stopped beating children,” are the words of Arbab Khatoon, the Head Teacher at Government Girls Primary School and Government Girls Middle School, Laung Pauja, district Dadu.
Arbab had always been considered by her peers as one of the most dedicated teachers of the school, partly due to the reason that she was associated with it for the longest duration. Her involvement with the school began in 1999 when she had come to the village of Laung Puaja as a young bride.
After settling down in the village, she received an opportunity to meet many of her neighbours and learnt to her dismay that a majority of them were illiterate. Since she herself was a Matriculate graduate, she was considered to be well educated according to village standards and the thought of her community members not considering education to be important for their children was quite disappointing to her.
Arbab also learnt through her interaction with the community members that there was a government school building present in the village but was not being utilised for any purpose.
She felt that if awareness was raised among the people of Laung Pauja regarding the necessity of education, then classes could be started in the village school and children could attend regularly as a head start.
She discussed her ideas with her husband who was doubtful that any good would come out of her
efforts, but yet she remained undeterred. She initially tried to raise awareness among the people by making house to house visits and started educating the people about the benefits of community mobilisation. Her efforts were not appreciated much and at times she was turned away harshly.
Not letting her failures bring her down, she enlisted the help of the village Imam and requested him to preach to parents the importance of education for children in his sermons.
She also approached an old lady who used to teach the Holy Quran to the children and sought her support in this regard.
Gradually, her repeated efforts of reaching out to parents in the community paid off and parents agreed to send their children to the school to acquire education. With the help of the community members, the government school building was renovated enough to make it usable and shortly afterwards 30 girls got enrolled.
As time passed, Arbab tried imparting as much knowledge as she could to the children but faltered at times as she herself had acquired only basic education. But with the passage of time and a little bit of luck, an international not-for-profit organisation, Right To Play in partnership with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) commenced their interventions in the district of Dadu and reached out to the above mentioned school.
Through “Red Ball Child Play” activities conducted by well trained head coaches of the organisation, positive behavioral changes could be seen developing in children resulting in active enrollment of more children at the school. Parents too appreciated the changes being brought about in their children’s’ behaviour.
It was also observed that due to the interventions of the mentioned organisation, behavioral changes were not limited to children only but positively affected the elders as well. Arbab cited her own example and shared that due to the efforts of Right To Play, she received an opportunity to learn things that were non-existent for her earlier and received an opportunity to attend RBCP, ECP and Child Protection Trainings which taught her the importance of “inclusion”, child rights and the importance of sports in child development.
Also, by observing activities conducted in her school, she understood the importance of being healthy and keeping the environment clean. She felt proud that after attending trainings she could provide ample support to the head coaches in conducting play-based activities for the children.
One activity that she conducted in the school was titled “Organised Basket” which resulted in groups of children from different backgrounds coming together and playing in harmony while forgetting their differences. At this point, Arbab felt content when she saw that she had been able to make a difference in her students’ lives by using the knowledge she had gained through different training programmes and workshops.
Supporting her contribution, Tasneem Chana, a teacher of seventh grade at the mentioned school said “after the intervention of Right To Play in our school, our children have become more active and confident. Earlier they used to be very quiet and reserved. Also, differences have melted away between the children.”
On a personal front, Arbab said that she had become more patient with her children and her young son named Waqar, aged five. At the school, young Waqar through observation had also learnt numerous games and had tried to replicate the same at home. Moreover, her children have started to understand the message behind the games and hence, positive development had been witnessed in their behavior, she added. Arbab further said that she truly believed that the power of sports and play did work miracles for children and adults alike.
The writer is an M&E/Communications Officer at Right To Play, Provincial Office, Sindh
