Playgrounds for All
The trust fund People4people believes that the fundamental right
of each child is uninhibited playtime! The happiness derived from
zipping down a slide, climbing up a jungle gym and bopping around
on a seesaw does not need an explanation or a description.
In India there are millions of children and yet, paradoxically,
not enough play spaces or areas for them. The richer children have
playgrounds at school, in their neighbourhoods, at the clubs they
visit. The poorer children are content with sandpits at
construction sites or nothing at all. The poorest children in
India go to government schools-free education but with limited
resources and no play equipment for children. Interestingly many
of these government schools have vast areas of unutilised land
surrounding the school building.
The trust aims to put up
playgrounds for use by children from poorer localities. Thus far
People4people has put up more than
70
playgrounds in government
schools, mainly in the Whitefield/Hoskote area, including one in a
village school in Tamil Nadu destroyed by the Tsunami. When they
put up their first playground in the Thubarahally government
school in Whitefield the joyous kids were on the slide even before
the paint on it dried! The sparkle in their eyes made the effort
worthwhile. And the reaction has been duplicated at every
playground that has been put up.
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