Looking beyond textbooks
K. JESHI
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Creative activities can mould a child in ways hours of counselling cannot.
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Free: Kids love to unwind and they are at their best when left to themselves.
They have a packed schedule. They learn dance, music, karate, new languages and now hone their personality development skills too. Apart from introducing the children into a creative world, schools now use the extra-curricular activities platform to bring about a holistic development in them. “Creativity comes into play when they participate in activities such as theatre, drama and music. When the focus is just on academics, it leads to stunted growth in children. A
holistic learning is important to achieve an all-round growth,” says Hema Ravikrishnan, principal of Shree Baldevdas Kikani Vidyamandir School.
Their theme this year is “learning through creativity” for students from kindergarten to Std. XII.
“Be it any subject, Maths, Science or History, the students will be guided to come out with answers based on their references from magazines and newspapers. This will help them understand various concepts in a broader perspective,” she adds.
Creating an opportunity for the child to participate in extra-curricular activities as part of the school curriculum is important, says S.S. Jayalakshmi, correspondent of Vidya Vikasini Institutions. “Our children participate in leadership development programmes conducted by the institution regularly. To develop their communication and leadership skills, we plan to introduce a language programme in English. Instead of a classroom setup, they will learn English through music, dance and play,” she adds.
The arts
The school also offers classes in performing arts and visual arts. If the creative activity room allows the nursery kids to draw and paint, students of Stds. I to V get an opportunity to learn number puzzle, word building and sentence building as part of their regular timetable. “Education is not just about reading, writing and homework. The freedom to participate in child friendly activities brings about a holistic development,” she adds.
At Elgi Matric H.S. School in Vellalore, Saturdays are kept aside for karate, yoga, dance, Abacus, spoken English, scouts and guides, basket ball coaching and group band training. During the summer holidays, a 10-day camp was conducted to introduce children to music, dance, street theatre, rangoli, media awareness, dance, theatre, drawing and painting and handicrafts.
“During the camp, psychologists spoke to children on positive approach in life and on how to tackle examination blues. The Deputy Commissioner of Police enlightened the students on traffic behaviour and road sense and they learnt about leading a healthy life during their interactive session with a physician,” says K. Rajendran, administrative officer of the school. It is all about giving something extra to boost their self-confidence levels, he adds.
Col. P. Jeyaraj, who is involved with the district education department’s initiative of teaching communicative English to Tamil medium students, says a command over the language boosts the self-confidence levels in students immensely. “They should be introduced to activities such as reading a newspaper regularly. Also, encouraging them to participate in public speaking such as elocution, debate and Just A Minute gives an opportunity for them to think quickly and to speak confidently in front of an audience. The dictionary habit to check meanings of new words improves their vocabulary,” he adds.
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