Sanjana Sanghi supports the United Nations' Right To Play

Sanjana Sanghi. Picture courtesy/PR

Sanjana Sanghi gave a powerful message about why the UN's Human Right to Play is important and the dangers of overlooking it. Sanjana said, "The Right to Play is the most human of human rights. It instantly touches upon the most basic, yet the most forgotten aspect of what is important to us. I've benefited from being able to dwell and indulge in a cultural and artistic life beyond the realms of what we're meant to do academically and I wouldn't be even 10 per cent of where I am as an adult today if it weren't for those experiences."

Sanjana talked about how being allowed to play benefited her studies and the negative effect parents turning play into the competition, or seeing it as unimportant, had on her fellow students, "I agree with the UN's statement about India facing a problem of overly structured schedules and academic targets that are so pressurizing. Many of the children I've been working with don't get the chance to even discover their creative side - that they have a voice that makes them sound melodious. Nobody's ever urged them to discover that voice. It makes you realise, when you take the pressure off and allowing The Right to Play by truly implementing it in an institution - that's the only way I was able to study and also be a Kathak dancer or learn jazz or be a debater. For India, that's where the problem is at - the confidence, the faith to let children engage in play without adult control doesn't exist enough to let them."

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Sanjana discussed how important it is to get away from TV and phone screens and games that make children passive observers and instead play in nature and invent their own stories: "I had this amazing opportunity to spend 10 days in a small Bhutanese village at one of the few schools in the world that focuses on education that's equally split inside and outside the classroom. Those 10 days were one of the most powerful moments I've had in this very curious relationship that I've had on my journey to make students and kids the best versions of themselves. Up there in the Himalayas, I saw that children were not being told that they have to be in class five out of five days. They were told that they have to be in class three days - the other days were free for them to choose whichever and how many activities that they want to do."

Finally, Sanjana discussed how the Right to Play has been affected by Covid-19: "Our struggle with access to basic education is so severe. I'm working with Save the Children on getting girls back to school, post the pandemic, because the rates at which dropouts are happening are alarming. There are 10 million girls on the verge of dropping out of school, post the pandemic in India. And that scares me because, along with their Right to Education, play is a by-product that will also be taken away from them. They will be forced to grow up much sooner, probably get married and swallowed into domestic chores, long before their minds and personalities could develop. And so now we're faced with the challenges that the pandemic brings with it. But I think, even if we were having this conversation two years ago, there was still such a big struggle with basic education that then just spills over into the Right to Play."

On the work front, Sanjana Sanghi will be next seen in 'OM - The Battle Within' opposite Aditya Roy Kapur. The film will be shot in 3 cities in India and one international location. The makers are hoping to complete the shooting of the film by March. Zee Studios and Ahmed Khan present, A Paper Doll Entertainment Production, produced by Zee Studios, Ahmed Khan and Shaira Khan, 'OM -The Battle Within' is directed by Kapil Verma.

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