‘Make childhood playful’

When he was young, teachers used to tell him off for being "too playful". Despite getting good grades in school, he was considered not ready to be made a class prefect.

"You are so playful David! You cannot possibly be a prefect", they said.

The teachers would never guess this young boy would later go on to become the minister for Basic and Senior Secondary Education and chief innovation officer for the Directorate of Science, Technology and Innovation in Sierra Leone.

Dr David Moinina Sengeh, studied biomedical engineering at Harvard University, joined MIT for postgraduate studies, and was named a TED Fellow in 2014.

The same year he was named one of Forbes 30 under 30 and won MIT Prize for innovations in healthcare.

He is also an Afrobeat rapper, a fashion designer, an advocate of making childhoods playful as it fosters creativity, cooperation, and empathy.

"People don't understand the link between playfulness, creativity, collaboration, emotional safety, resilience and the ability to share. These values, you cannot develop merely through textbooks," he told The Daily Star during his visit to Bangladesh in October 21 to 26.

Between 1991 and 2002, Bangladeshi military troops fought the rebels in Sierra Leone during the civil war and restored peace.

As a gesture of gratitude, the West African nation declared Bangla as one of its official languages.

Possibly, this bond brings David to Bangladesh where he says he feels at home. When he went to the Liberation War Museum in Dhaka, it gave him a sense of understanding of Bangladesh's desire to contribute to the global economy and peacekeeping, and share values of inclusion and diversity.

He thought Bangladesh and his home country were more similar than different. Even the differences he thought brought these two nations together, instead of keeping them apart.

During his visit here, he learned about BRAC education programmes, especially its Play Lab Model in Manikganj.

The model incorporates play-based learning in all aspects of its curriculum, considering that play is integral to children meeting their key developmental milestones in their early years.

Researchers found early stimulation and learning through positive experiences significantly contribute to a child's cognitive, emotional, social, and physical potential.

BRAC is already working in Sierra Leone to integrate play-based learning into policy, curriculum and pedagogy.

David said he was fascinated by the way BRAC and the Bangladesh government collaborated to improve the lives of people.

Recalling his experience of visiting the Play Lab Model being implemented in Manikganj, he said it was extraordinary to see how kids were learning through play and the parents supporting them.

"What I enjoy most about being a minister of education is school visits. Nothing can replace the experience of playing and learning with children and engaging with teachers," he said.

"Education is the greatest investment to show you are ready to face global challenges like climate change and energy shortage."

The young and ardent minister said  Sierra Leone is collaborating with researchers from Bangladesh to determine how teachers can implement the play-lab model framework in the classroom and scale it up to replicate Bangladesh's practice.

The civil war in Sierra Leone left thousands as amputees. David, a biomechatronics engineer, pioneered a new system for creating prosthetic sockets, which fit a prosthetic leg onto a patient's residual limb.

He created a more comfortable socket for prostheses than traditional ones that can be produced cheaply and quickly.

In April 2020, BBC ran a feature about the education minister's viral tweet of the image of his 10-month-old daughter tied to his back during an online meeting, setting an example for other men to follow.