98% of Adjumani refugee nursery schools lack study materials

Dec 12, 2020

EDUCATION | 

CHILDREN of different ages, but fairly young run around as they play near their homes in Pagirinya camp in Adjumani district.

Pagirinya refugee settlement hosts more than 32,000 refugees displaced from South Sudan. Close to half of the people in this district are refuges, and of these 36,937 are children of ages three to five, set to be in the nursery or Early Childhood Development Centres.

However, according to Philip Akuku Kaya, an education officer in Adjumani district, 98% of the nursery schools in refugee communities lack study materials. The report also says that 78% of these ECD centres supported by partners lack functional indoor and outdoor playing equipment to promoted play-based learning.

Based on this, the Government, working with partners are now supporting the learning of refugee children in various parts of the country. Recently, a consortium of partners started rolling out support for refugee children in Adjumani, under the PlayMatters, a new initiative aimed at delivering play-based learning to refugee and host community children in Uganda.

At the project rollout launch in Adjumani recently, the head of the Programmes at Plan International, Greg Lavender; on behalf of the Consortium implementing the project noted that refugee children need special attention all over the world. "It is great that the Government of Uganda is one of the best in the world in regard to protecting refugees," he noted.

The community launch followed the national launch which was done last month at State House, by the First Lady and education minister Mrs. Janet Museveni.

The five-year PlayMatters project aims at strengthening children's resilience and building their social, emotional, cognitive, physical, and creative skills though play-based learning.

Play is a natural way for children to learn and develop, with research showing that it is one of the most critical ways to help children build essential skills and resilience especially for refugee children who have been impacted by traumatic events.

The event highlighted that Learning through play, sparks a love for learning that stays with children for a lifetime. Calls for action were made to strengthen the use of play as a method of teaching and learning in pre-primary and primary schools among learners aged 3-12+.

Lavender says that the support to the refugee and community children, "Is expected to set a good foundation for children's learning."

"The future of these children is in our hands and it is important that we pay attention to their learning. The more we continue to make it playful, the more they will like it, and the better they will understand what is being taught," he explained.

Who is behind the project?

The project is funded by the LEGO Foundation and implemented by a consortium led by the International Rescue Committee, in partnership with Plan International, War Child Holland, the Behavioural Insights Team, and Innovations for Poverty Action. The overall grant is $100 million covering Uganda, Ethiopia, and Tanzania.

PlayMatters will work in partnership with various actors including parents, caregivers, educators, and policymakers to increase appreciation, skills, and motivation to support children learn through play.

The project has come at a critical time when school learning has been disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Ministry of Education has been supporting home-based learning through distributing print materials, radio, and television teaching, which has proven to be an asset in ensuring that learning continues despite school closures. 

‘To complement these efforts, PlayMatters in Uganda developed and distributed "PlayMatters at Home" Learning packets for children, and an educator's guide containing simple learning games which can be played at home,'' said Martin Omukuba, Regional Director of PlayMatters.

 "This support will continue when schools fully reopen as the project also aims to lay foundations for fostering learning through play within existing learning structures and systems."

In Uganda, the implementation of PlayMatters will start in 10 refugee-hosting local governments in Kyegegwa, Isingiro, Kikuube, Lamwo, Arua, Madi Okollo, Terego, Obongi, Yumbe, and Adjumani districts.  

Ultimately, PlayMatters' ambition is that playful learning will grow and remain entrenched in the education services of the country long into the future.

Does playing improve learning?

So many studies have shown that children learn best through playing.

Play is far more powerful for children, however, than many parents realize. It's actually the key to learning. Researchers and educators across the world have found that play can help enrich learning and develop key skills such as inquiry, expression, experimentation, and teamwork.

The book, ‘Internet Invention: From Literacy to Electracy', quotes Albert Einstein on how playing with that compass inspired his love of science.  He wrote, "This experience made a deep and lasting impression on me. Something deeply hidden had to be behind things."

As a parent, he says, you probably love to see your child playing. It's incredible to hear their ideas and to learn about the new worlds they create. It's also fun to see how creative they can be as they put their imagination to use in learning about the world around them.

For children, play is often a full-body activity that helps them develop skills they will need later in life. Running, dancing, climbing, rolling—these activities all foster muscle development and help fine-tune motor skills. Children also build their mental and emotional muscles as they create elaborate, imaginative worlds rich with a system of rules that govern the terms of play.

University of Denver researchers Elena Bodrova, Carrie Germeroth, and Deborah J. Leong found that children teach themselves to regulate their emotions and think before they act when they play. Role-playing, for instance, helps children build social skills and helps them become the kind of adults who are able to thrive in a range of personal and professional environments.

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