According to a survey of Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (RAJUK), there are no playgrounds or parks in the areas of 37 wards out of the 129 wards of the two city corporations in the capital.
Environmentalists and public health experts opined that area-based mobile playground can be an effective solution for creating opportunities for children’s play and socialization. Such mobile playground will also play a vital role to develop a vibrant and livable city by building harmony among the locals.
With the aim of creating opportunities for sports and socialization, a mobile playground was inaugurated at Niribili Housing Society area at Shankar in the capital on Wednesday (December 22). The mobile playground will be organized every Wednesday from 3.00 pm to 5.00 pm in the area through various activities like painting, handicrafts, socialization, chess-ludu-carom-rope jump-badminton.
Work for a Better Bangladesh (WBB) Trust and Niribili Housing Home Owners Association jointly took the initiative.
Sheikh Mohammad Hossain Khokon, councilor of Ward No. 34 of Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC), formally inaugurated the mobile playground in the ward area as the chief guest, while Gaous Pearee, director at the WBB Trust, presided over the inaugural ceremony.
Moderated by Ziaur Rahman, senior project officer of WBB Trust, the event was attended, among others, by Md Hasan Tariq (Babu), president of Niribili Housing Society, HM Nurul Islam, headmaster of Dhanmondi Kachikantha High School, and MA Mannan Monir, headmaster of Dhaka Ideal Cadet School. Officials of WBB Trust and Institute of Wellbeing Bangladesh and residents of the area were also present at the function.
Sheikh Mohammad Hossain Khokon said that children, women, and the elderly would benefit if opportunities for sports and socialization are created for a certain period of time by organizing mobile playground in unused or underused place. Setting up of mobile playground in the Ward No. 34 area is a role model for other wards. If such activities are organized in every ward, the city dwellers will benefit and a vibrant and livable city will be developed, he added.
The DNCC councilor expressed his determination to take initiative to organize two more mobile playgrounds in the area.
In her speech, Gaous Pearee said there are not enough playgrounds and parks in Dhaka city. It brings a negative impact on physical and mental health. However, it is not possible for the city corporation to build adequate fields and parks quickly. Against this backdrop, it is possible to build area-based sports and socialization space in every ward of the city at very low cost and in a small space, she added.
Speakers at the event said that physical and mental development of children have been hampered due to prolonged stay at home during the Covid-19 period. Organizing mobile playground will play an important role in exercise, socialization and intellectual development of the children.
Some of the speakers said that children’s addiction to various devices including computers and mobiles has increased due to lack of adequate sports opportunities. This problem has multiplied due to online classes following the Covid-19 situation. Area-based mobile playground can play a vital role in solving the problem.
