Children play in the corridors and rooftops in the city for absence of any playground in their neighbourhood.Photo: STAR

Pritom, a class-three student from Kazipara, has never played in a playground. The only place he gets to run around or play badminton is the rooftop of the building he lives in.
Ten-year-old Faraaz can only look at the open field near his Khilgaon Chowdhurypara house from the window. He never got a chance to play in the field.
Sharar, who will attend school from next year, often badger parents to take her to Mirpur at her aunt's place. Not to meet the aunt, her only attraction is to play on the roof of the house, which happens to be wide, almost like a handball court.
These children, along with thousand others living in Dhaka city have one thing in common. They are deprived of one of the most important experiences of their life, playing in an open ground and socialising with other kids.
In Pritom's case, the heavily congested neighbourhood he lives in has no playground or open space. Faraaz, on the other hand, is not allowed to go to the nearby playground as it is not safe to go to the vagabond and criminal-infested place.
Sharar's parents who live in Banani Chairmanbari, with a very hectic daily office routine have no spare time to take her to a playground. And when they do have time, they see the nearest open space is most of the times used for car parking.
In Dhaka city very few neighbourhood is blessed with a playground. According to the Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) information guide, DCC looks after 47 public parks, but its estate department records show that it oversees 41 parks. A recent DCC survey however found 61 parks under its control.
In reality most of these parks and playgrounds only exist on paper while a number of children's parks do not even have any necessary features of a children's park.
The parks and playgrounds are simply found to be leased or encroached on by kitchen markets, slums, public toilets, unauthorised health clubs, car parking, bus operators, waste dumping, water pump stations and junkyards.
Some open spaces have been encroached by local influential people, some even by government agencies for various activities depriving the children of playgrounds.
A very few schools have playground facility for their students. Realtors and land-owners on the other hand use the spare open spaces only for business purposes.
City's children are growing up in confinement at their home, just playing on the balcony or rooftop. Those who don't have a balcony or access to a roof simply spend their time watching television or playing computer games.
A recent study conducted by the Work for Better Bangladesh Trust in 2007 shows that 67 percent of the children in Dhaka city do not have any playing facility in their neighbourhood, while 64 percent children do not have any sports class in their school.
About 48 percent children said their primary recreation is watching television although about 70 children said TV does not help them in any ways. Majority of the children watch television at least two to three hours a day.
Dr Tahmina Begum, Head of Paediatrics, Birdem and Ibrahim Medical College Hospital, said that children must have physical activity in their daily routine. It helps them to eat and sleep well, eventually helping them to grow up healthy.
“However the children of the urban areas are forced to grow up in confinement of home and school. Lack of physical activity is responsible for increasing ratio of some illness among children that used to be prevalent among adults,” she said.
Dr Tahmina said during her routine medical practice she experienced an increasing rate of illnesses related to child obesity. Child diabetes is also increasing at a high rate.
Other most prevalent ailments include cardiovascular illness, breathing disorder and high blood pressure and all these are related to obesity.
Dr Tahmina said many of these ailments are related to changes in food habit. Children who watch too much television are more interested to eat what they see in television advertisements that mostly show fatty and sugary fast food, candies and drinks.
“Since television do not advertise about vegetables and other health food children do not learn to eat them. To much junk food and no physical activity make them obese,” she pointed out.
Professor of child psychology at the Dhaka University Prof Dilruba Afrose explained -- playground is where children interact and socialise with other children. It is a place for them to learn many things. Child's play can teach the importance of reality, responsibility, friendship, leadership and tolerance at an early age.
Playing in the playground, even fighting with friends helps the children accept the fact that winning, losing and disappointment are part of life. It also builds sportsmanship.
“There are different stages of growing up. Missing the playground means skipping a stage of growing, missing out a very important part of life,” she said.
“Children are full of energy. Running and playing is a way of releasing that energy. When they cannot release it, the bottled up energy turns into tension and effects them in many ways, both mentally and physically,” Prof Afrose said.
“When children misses the chance to play, their behavioural pattern changes. They become isolated, lonely and ill-tempered. An abnormal routine develops. Children stay up late at night. Isolation makes them self-centred,” she added.
Studies show spending too much time watching television plays a very negative effect on children. “TV is a one-way channel. There is no way of giving feedback. So children gradually lose their imaginative and creative side that decides their life path,” she said.
Too much television means the child is introduced to a world of violence and sex at a very early age. TV characters often depict risky behaviours, such as smoking and drinking. This could lead to aggressive behaviour among children, Prof Afrose noted.