98% private schools in Dhaka lack playgrounds

Around 98 per cent of the private schools in Dhaka lack a playground, which has been identified as a barrier to children’s overall development. 

Speakers expressed their concern while discussing at a seminar, organised by Babuland at its Badda branch on Saturday, said a press release.

Babuland, country’s largest chain of indoor playgrounds serving almost 40,000 children per month, held the seminar to essentially discuss the importance of children’s proper physical, mental and social development in the modern times.

Children should ideally grow up amidst greeneries and fresh air, but now such a scenario is a rare find among the modern cities filled with skyscrapers. This accounts for a major hindrance within the proper physical, mental and social growth of children. Participants at the Babuland seminar expressed their grave concern on this issue, and urged everyone to look for ways to overcome it.

Key persons from Babuland management attended the event. Also, were present company Investors, Business Partners and Media Personnel.

Babuland Co-Founder & Chairman Ishnad Chowdhury said, “Dhaka city only has 294 acres of playground against a requirement of 1876 acres, which is only a mere 16 per cent. Consequently, 77 per cent children are deprived of sufficient physical exercise, every day. Eventually, this leads to risks of illnesses such as heart disease, diabetes or even mental depression. We are here to help the society to fill this gap and impact physical and mental development of the next generation by providing safe and hygienic indoor playgrounds”.

According to a survey conducted by the Bangladesh Institute of Planners (BIP) on the current population of Bangladesh, areas under the jurisdiction of two city corporations of Dhaka city consists of only 235 playgrounds, against a requirement of 2400. To fill in that gap, children are alarmingly becoming addicted to smart devices, which is also causing significant psychological harm to them. According to research institutes like We Are Social and Hootsuite, children spend at least 5-6 hours a day on the internet. Such interruption within the psychological development from such a young age may push these children towards becoming depressed and suicidal.