Extra Curricular Activities - a 360 degree approach

Extracurricular activities provide a channel for reinforcing lessons learned in the classroom and are thus considered part of a well-rounded education. Participation in extracurricular activities increases students' sense of engagement or attachment to their school, and thereby decreases the likelihood of school failure and dropping out. If, indeed, participation in extracurricular activities can lead to success in school, then the availability of these activities to students across backgrounds becomes an important equity issue.

Benefits : Although some parents are somewhat sceptical about their children participating in extracurricular activities, these actually bring with them many benefits like - 

1. Learning Time Management and Prioritizing. 

2. Getting exposed to diverse interests. 

3. Become committed to the cause. 

4. Enable self-growth. 

5. Improving Self Esteem & Teamwork. 

6. Building relationship skills. 

7. Boosts exam results.

With so many benefits, how can we most effectively engage our children in these activities?

• Be a role model - Children follow their parents. If your children see you enthusiastically practice an instrument or play a sport, they are very likely to follow and continue the activity later.

• Create a supportive environment - If we have sports-related items or piano, keyboard at home, they are likely to be used and reduce distractions, such as the television and internet.

• Encourage your child - Look for opportunities for your child to extend herself. Ask about sports opportunities, dance classes at school.

• Social support - If friends are involved in a particular activity and your children show interest, joint participation is likely to motivate them to stay involved.

With these, there is far more likelihood of long-term motivation, participation, and success for our children than by just enrolling them in some activity.

How Much is Too Much? While we have seen the multitude of benefits for our children, too many activities can end up with negative effects. Students involved in too many activities often end up with academic problems or they may not get the rest and recreation they need. It is thus important that you set some limits. While it can be tough for a parent to be a taxi driver to all these activities, keep in mind that you are doing it for their well being and future success. Just make sure to put your foot down if they try to take these activities too far.

Is your school ready for the next level?

School improvement plans should be selective: they need to help principals, teachers, and school councils answer the questions “What will we focus on now?” and “What will we leave until later?” They encourage staff and parents to monitor student achievement levels and other factors, such as the school environment, that are known to influence student success. With up-to-date and reliable information about how well students are performing, schools are better able to respond to the needs of students, teachers, and parents. One of the first steps—a crucial one—in developing an improvement plan involves teachers, school leadership, parents, and other associated members working together to gather and analyse information about the school and its students, so that they can determine what needs to be improved in their school.

Real change takes time. It is important that all partners understand this as they enter into the school improvement planning process. Incremental improvements are significant, and they should be celebrated, but they do not constitute lasting change. Our thought is the entire process is spread in four-phases.

1. The “Plan” Phase should address the following guiding principles: goal alignment, structured needs assessment, limited focus, and data driven decision-making. While there are standard templates on improvement one can check on, every school is unique. This thought would drive you to tailor made solutions apt for the environment in discussion.

2. The “Do” Phase should focus on the aspects: effective measurement, distributed leadership, professional development alignment, and school calendar alignment.

3. The “Check” Phase should take into consideration: measure against preset goals and other similar environments in the geography.

4. The “Act” Phase completes the review cycle. This phase is a continuation of the “Do” phase but reflects changes resulting from the “Check” phase review. The same “Do” phase principles apply, and efforts at the school focus on continuing what has been shown to work and on implementing agreed-upon adjustments. This phase refreshes the continuous improvement process, integrating new ideas with proven actions. These new ideas, in turn, will be reviewed and confirmed or refuted by future review cycles.

Together we will improve and Develop Schools

For a Liberal India, Liberate Education

Rita Wilson, Chief Editor

(Ex-chief executive and Secretary, ICSE)

Liberal Education is an approach to learning that empowers individuals and prepares them to deal with complexity, diversity, and change. It provides students with broad knowledge of the wider world (e.g. science, culture, and society) as well as in-depth study in a specific area of interest. A liberal education helps students develop a sense of social responsibility, as well as strong and transferable intellectual and practical skills such as communication, analytical and problem-solving skills, and a demonstrated ability to apply knowledge and skills in real-world settings.

Education serves democracy best when it prepares us for just the kinds of questions we face now: questions about a wider world, about our own values, and about difficult choices we must make both as human beings and citizens.

The only education that prepares us for change is a liberal education. In periods of change, narrow specialization condemns us to inflexibility--precisely what we do not need. We need the flexible intellectual tools to be problem solvers, to be able to continue learning over time. A liberal education is a practical education because it develops just those capacities needed by every thinking adult.

In the world's most youthful country, housing over 240 million families desperate and keen to educate their children, there has not been a professional educator, after Nurul Hasan in the 1970s, at the helm of the education ministry. The debate on liberalising education, which can eventually pave the way for a more liberal, diverse, and free-thinking society, has not even begun.

In fact, the reverse has happened; the shackles have increased, and education policy has become illiberal. The government-appointed "autonomous" boards are usually packed with those who are dependent directly or indirectly on the government, and are not likely to choose building and nurturing a liberal society over their business interests.

Education is the gateway to equal opportunity as every Indian citizen, rich or poor will testify. It is therefore the key to taking India's liberal agenda forward.

In a liberal society, educational institutions are seen to be a public good, regulated and held accountable on several parameters - academic quality, social responsibility, use of public funds and so on. They must be free to pursue their own paths, governed by boards drawn from academia and society at large, which are capable of performing, with maturity, the function of this critical trusteeship.

Let us liberate education and develop schools for a liberal India in the twenty-first century.