Going from the womb to the boardroom

Play is inherently human. It is natural. It starts before birth. Mothers feel the playful movement of the unborn quite early. Combined with a sense of hearing, babies start learning early, before coming into the world. Once in the world, they continue playing to develop and learn. Knowledge as we know it is an awareness or understanding acquired through experiences or education by perceiving, discovering or learning. Who can dispute the role of play in that?

Play gives us an avenue for expressing who we are: the talent in us, the love we have, the sharing, everything around us. It shapes our thoughts. It helps form our reaction to phenomena around us. There is no adulthood without childhood, and the cumulative learning we acquire, the skills we develop, the wisdom we muster, all begin with play, in various forms and at various stages.

When children play they learn to socialise and develop early concepts in maths, science, geography and virtually all aspects of existence. Within the school system, the perception of maths being a maze, geography a bore and language a drag are all due to how they are delivered: a traditional, regimented approach devoid of playful presentation, with teachers trained in a methodology that sees children as slates on which to impart knowledge rather

than as knowledge bearers themselves capable of thought and novelty.

Children discover their talents and develop a liking for knowledge through play, and the cyclic nature of it is that the more we engage in it, the CFUUFS XF CFDPNF &WFO EJGGJDVMU TJUVations become bearable, and we learn to cope with and overcome them. If we could recognise that fun in learning takes away the trauma, stresses and difficulties among children, they would learn better, and we will have less instances of school failure.

Changing school performance, exam results and outcomes of education do not start with the textbook — it starts with the foundations that are laid and sustained through play, right from the start.