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Right to Play’s Impact on Ghana’s Children’s Access to Education

Right to Play’s“Protect. Educate. Empower.” This is Right to Play’s mission to help more than 1.52 million children overcome adversity yearly through the power of play. Olympian Johann Olav Koss founded the organization that now operates within 15 countries across the globe, using all kinds of play in education to help children develop important social and emotional learning skills. Sports, games and arts are all crucial elements of play that support such development of skills for a child to become an agent of change for themselves and their communities.

5 Facts Highlighting Why Play is Important for a Child’s Development

  1. Dr. Sam Wang and Dr. Sandra Aamodt found that play can reduce stress by activating neurotransmitters such as norepinephrine, which improves brain plasticity, increases alertness and can boost one’s mood.
  2. When children “free-play,” they can assert their agency and control over their experience and can promote their imagination.
  3. When a child plays games or learns a new dance move, they are developing their cognition. This means they are improving in different forms of knowledge and perception, according to UNICEF.
  4. Edutopia asserts that guided play, play with the supervision of adults, is beneficial to promoting kids’ problem-solving and recall of information skills when open-ended questions are involved. For example, questions starting with “Tell me about” encourage children to reflect upon their thinking as well as challenge their communication skills.
  5.  Peter K. Smith and Jennifer M. StGeorge learned that kids who participate in “rough and tumble play” both with their parents and their peers are more likely to be able to “self-regulate” and have increased levels of “social-emotional adjustment,” and this enables the child to benefit from further learning opportunities offered to them.

Right to Play’s Work in Ghana

Ghana has made great improvements in its education system over the past decades, including higher rates of attendance in primary school, which have increased by 20% since 2002. Still, there are barriers affecting schoolchildren. There is a wealth disparity among children, with 1.6 times more of the country’s richest children completing primary school compared to the poorest in 2020. Indeed, the poorest children accounted for 20% of the school-aged population whilst simultaneously accounting for the greater part of children aged 6-15 out of school.

The fact that around a fifth of children aged 5-17 are involved in child labor, usually working in agriculture, fishing and cocoa production, which is highly strenuous work, further shapes this disparity in accessing education. Most of these children are working for their family’s survival, and this negatively sustains a vicious cycle of poverty, as those affected are unable to return to school and seize learning opportunities.

How is Right to Play Helping?

Beyond working directly with 495 schools within seven target districts in the country, Right to Play, in collaboration with The LEGO Foundation, has been supporting Ghana’s Ministry of Education through implementing play-based approaches within “in-service education and training and school-level professional development plans.”

By 2025, Right to Play aims to reach 12,758,600 children and youth and 368,336 educators across 10,000 schools selected for the Ghana Accountability for Learning Outcomes Project (GALOP).

So far, Right to Play’s program implementation in schools has had notable impacts. Not only are teachers better at engaging students through “child-centered learning,” with female teachers accounting for a 48.5% increase in engagement in lessons, but Right to Play program leaders were able to address 95% of cases of child laborers in the targeted districts, allowing for many children to access opportunities that allow them to escape the vicious cycle of poverty.

Looking Ahead

Right to Play’s mission of using play to protect, educate and empower children is making a significant impact in Ghana. By collaborating with the Ministry of Education and implementing play-based approaches, the organization is improving education outcomes and addressing the challenges faced by disadvantaged children, including child labor. The positive results, such as increased student engagement and reduced child labor cases, demonstrate the effectiveness of Right to Play’s programs in breaking the cycle of poverty and providing opportunities for children to thrive.

– Lucy Gebbie
Photo: Flickr

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Poverty and Playtime: How Games Can Lift Children Out of Poverty

Poverty and PlaytimePlaytime is an essential part of childhood. Playing with toys begins when a child is very young and is key in helping them explore their environment. The act of play has been proven to help a child try new things, developed problem-solving skills and process emotions, as well as establish confidence and coping abilities. But with a reported 593 million children living in multidimensional poverty, there is the risk of not enjoying the benefits of playtime. With two-thirds of the world’s poor being children, there are questions regarding whether poverty and playtime can co-exist.

The Jamaican Study

A study conducted in Jamaica by child health specialists Sally Grantham-McGregor and Susan Walker may hold the answer. The study revealed a bold link between poverty and playtime, specifically that playing with toys at an early age had the potential to lift a child out of poverty later in life. The Jamaican study looked at children between 9 months and 24 months of age who were classified as living in extreme poverty and, weekly for two years, provided them and their families with a ‘mental and social stimulus’ program. The program involved the use of handmade toys and simple picture books. Parents were encouraged to sing and read with their children. The children receiving toys and regular playtime were compared to a control group over the course of 20 years.

The results were staggering. Those who had participated in regular playtime earned 25% more in adulthood than children in the control group. Children who had playtime had higher IQ and cognitive flexibility, better mental health and fewer risk behaviors later in life. The study’s methodology showed that playtime does not need to be expensive to be effective. Its simplicity means similar methods are now being duplicated across Bangladesh, India and Colombia, tailored to fit a specific country’s needs. There is hope the results will be just as promising as the results from the Jamaican Study.

Further Studies Regarding Children and Playtime

Further studies have suggested that children living in poverty are more likely to suffer from developmental delays. Most important to note is that the act of play substantially mitigated these delays. These results prove that there is a significant and long-term benefit to play. The results suggest that it is important that children, especially in developing countries where poverty acts as a barrier to play, have the space and tools they need to enjoy playing.

Global Play Schemes for Kids

There are a number of play schemes in place across many disadvantaged parts of the world. The United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), for example, has been operating the Child Friendly Spaces scheme since 1999. These spaces typically run in areas plagued by conflict or extreme weather events. These spaces are so invaluable, they have come to be known as sanctuaries – places where children can run, sing and play together safely and freely. Child Friendly Spaces mean that the gap between poverty and playtime is shortened rather than widened, ensuring that children are fulfilled and enriched in spite of their circumstances.

Other initiatives to bring toys to children living in poverty include:

  • Play Well Africa: An organization that collects unwanted Legos and distributes them to some of Africa’s poorest children.
  • Samaritan’s Purse: Its ‘Operation Christmas Child’ initiative helps children living in poverty to receive toys and gifts during Christmas. Samaritan’s Purse has given gifts to over 209 million children in more than 170 countries and territories.
  • Worldwide Orphans: This organization helps children to enjoy the right to play through their mobile ‘toy libraries’, aiding children across Haiti, Ethiopia, Bulgaria and Vietnam.

Going Forward

It is evident how much positivity toys can bring to a child, both emotionally and developmentally. Ultimately, it is vital for the well-being of children living in developing countries that opportunities for playtime are plentiful, and that poverty and playtime can coexist rather than exist separately.

On the bright side, global initiatives and organizations like UNICEF, Play Well Africa, Samaritan’s Purse and Worldwide Orphans are working tirelessly to bridge the gap between poverty and playtime, ensuring that children in disadvantaged circumstances can experience the joy and benefits of play.

– Chloe Jenkins
Photo: Flickr