Importance of extra-curricular activities at school

“All play and no work makes Jack a dull boy”

Somehow, this proverb has been sent for a toss in these super competitive times. Children

these days are not interested in extra-curricular activities offered by the school. The parents

(that’s what the source says)/ students are bothered about the subjects that appear on their

final scorecard. However, handful of the students those have inclination towards extra-

curricular activities are booed down by their ambitious parents (against whose wishes the child

eventually succumbs to).

These days’ extra- curricular activities are considered to be a waste of time (rather everything

that does not help in increasing the marks on the report card are a means of distraction).

The parents in the mayhem of rat race to secure the “highest” marks are ignoring the fact that

education is a process through which the child is empowered to stand for his/ her rights and

develops an ability to differentiate between the right and the wrong.

“But who cares about all this?” would be the unanimous response of the parents who want their

wards to have a bright future (in terms of minting money). However, these parents have

forgotten the fact that activities such as sports taken up at school help in the overall physical

and mental development of a child. Nowadays, we see young lads complaining of ill health (leg

pain etc) because of the lack of physical activity/ exercise involved in their daily life.

Similarly, other activities like dramatics, extempore, dance, music, art helps in the overall

development of a child’s personality. The parents should understand that each activity/ course

offered by the school is for a reason collectively aiming for the child’s growth. As per the

experts study, if a child is cramming into the books throughout the day with no other activity,

the concentration level is bound to decline. Therefore, there should be mix of both studies and

the other activities in a student’s daily life cycle.

Having said this, it is imperative that the parents encourage their children to participate in the

extra- curricular activities at school. The students should try out different tasks as the current

scenario is such that there are a plethora of opportunities in every sector and sky is the limit to

perform.

Who knows you are curbing the aspiration and the talent of next Sachin Tendulkar in the

making.

By not exposing your child to other activities, you are actually making your child see a pretty

narrow picture of the world. You are actually crippling the potential of your child who can

otherwise be a fantastic public orator (for example). So, if you don’t let your child make his

hands dirty he wouldn’t really get to know as to what else he can do well apart from scoring

high grades.

There are many good schools in India that offer activities such as sports, dance, drama, music

etc. One of the schools in Pune attempted a Guinness Book of World record for a dance

event. Such schools not only focus on education programs but also focus on overall

development of students. Schools and parents both have started realizing importance of extra-

curricular activities.