SCHOOL EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES

In historic Greece, when the civilization was at its zenith, many scholars and philosophers laid down the principles and purposes of education. The first schools were just a group of people who preached and believed in particular set of thoughts. Then came the idealistic schools followed by pragmatist thoughts and approaches. It is still debated as what should be the ultimate goals of education.

School extracurricular activities are the elements that increase the scope of education beyond formal teaching and learning practices. Even in ancient times, men realized the importance of physical education, training, emotional expression and more. These elements are essentially present in the nature and character of human being and are inseparable.

Unfortunately the schools of today have fallen to the whims of the profession-oriented education. The schools and school children compete for the merit, for the scores, top ranks. But little do they realize as what they are achieving.

Major portion of the curriculum is about knowledge, which is neither retained by the students nor utilized for any specific purpose. On the other hand, activities like sports, arts, literature, creative expressions are never encouraged and cultivated among the students. One noteworthy example is the topper of the senior secondary or secondary examinations, who wears a thick glass and does not even know how to hold a cricket bat. That is what the so-called “accredited schools” are producing.

You must also have noticed that we are producing good doctors and engineers in contemporary times but not great scholars, philosophers, artists or dramatists. Even sports education is suffering and those who happen to be professionals have to struggle a lot and often leave their formal education.

If the goal of education is to excel in all spheres of life than formal education needs many reformations and school extracurricular activities have to be provided some room. Teachers, educators, scholars, policy makers and everyone associated with education have to look beyond the four walls of the classroom, textbooks and examinations. It is time that we do something to make our schools better learning centers.