Re-configuring the Rights to Education Through Play with Painting and Clay Modelling among Children Affected by the Psychosocial Effects of the Covid-19 Pandemic

Abstract

The devastating COVID-19 pandemic, which resulted in the closure of all schools for nearly a year, violated articles 43(1)f, 53(1)b, and 55(a) of Kenya’s 2010 constitution on the right to education. The Government of Kenya deprived UNDP-SGDs (2015) of goals on quality education and UNICEF (2018); Every Child Learns when enforcing the social distance policy, a direction of World Health Organization (WHO) (2020) preventive measures. Before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, UNICEF (2018) cautioned that any attempt to inhibit child learning’s welfare, such as play, would harm growth and development in early childhood. Modern educationalists have asserted that play with art plays a role in cognitive and social learning as an extension of recreation and elaboration of their conflicts. The paper aims to reconfigure rights to education on play with paintings and clay modelling among children affected by the psychosocial effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The researcher has focused on descriptive desktop research design art bases research activities such as playing with painting and clay modelling; it has examined the literature on psychoanalysis tools to create a discussion on the paper. The paper acknowledged the mission of WHO (2020), UNDP-SDGs (2015), UNICEF (2018), and Article 53(1)d of the Kenyan 2010 Constitution on Good Health for All Children. It has merited play with painting and clay modelling as a profound tool to re-configure rights to education among children affected by the psychosocial effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Finally, the paper suggested a campaign workshop or seminars for play with painting and clay modelling to champion the right to education among children in schools