Parents perceptions on the need of community based play centers for the children aged 2-5 years in Dhaka city

Abstract

In Bangladesh specially in Dhaka, playgrounds are declining gradually because of rapid urbanization. Numerous studies showed that children who cannot go outside for play suffers different types of development delay and become addicted to digital devices. Though Government already aware of this issue but still there has not adequate initiative been taken. Taking into consideration the downsides of lack of playground for children and the need for study on this issue in the context of Bangladesh, the current research has undertaken to examine parental perceptions on the need of community-based play centers for the children aged 2 to 5 years in Dhaka city. In this research, data was composed by qualitative method. Semi-structured in-depth interview questionnaire used as research instrument. This study used purposive sampling thechnique. Participants have interviewed over phone to collect data. The result of the study has revealed that most of the parents have basic understanding about necessity of paly and imapct of play deprivation on children. According to them, socialization, brain development, learning development, language development will happen if children play regularly. Emotional development was the the most neglected part in participants’ responses. Most of the participants do not have a clear vision about ‘community-based play center’ but they made some ideas on it. Despite this fact, all the participants have showed their concern about community-based play centers and expressed that this kind of establishment could be an alternative due to the lack of a playground and security issues. Fund raising, convincing parents, collecting play materials, and political power play could be the challenging factors to set up a community-based play center.