Is playtime a luxury for children and youth?

Beyond formal education, informal learning which takes place in after-school settings plays a critical role in children’s holistic development. Play is essential for fostering self-confidence, creativity, social aptitude, cognitive growth and stress management. Structured activities like sports, music and school clubs offer supervised and beneficial engagement, while unstructured pursuits like arts, outdoor play and nature exploration promote problem-solving and life satisfaction. These positive characteristics and outcomes are the building blocks of Positive Youth Development. To support Positive Youth Development in Pakistan, creating inclusive and safe environments for children’s out-of-school learning and play is crucial. Schools are natural hubs for extracurricular and sports programmes that develop essential life skills. Similarly, religious spaces can be leveraged to enhance children’s social and emotional growth. This comprehensive approach is key to nurturing well-rounded individuals and citizens for the future, according to an article by Salima Kerai-Sayani, a population health researcher, an alumna of the Aga Khan University and now completing her PhD at the University of British Columbia, Canada.