The statement seems to suggest that instruction should be imparted in an interesting and pleasing manner so that the students may feel that school is a place where there is “doing’ in it. We know that without ‘doing’ there is no learning, no acquisition, no development and no formation of character. This ‘doing’ can easily be practised if we introduce various co-curricular activities and provide the students with a field full of recreational-cum-educational potentialities.
The students among other things long for summer vacation to get relief from the dull and dreary school life. This is further intensified by the scorching heat of the summer. Here we shall consider the possibility of having a rich and invigorating school environment and see if the students still long for summer vacation.
“Knowledge and learning are undoubtedly of value, but they must be acquired as a by-product of interested activity, because it is only then they can become a vital part of the student’s mind and personality and influence his behaviour,” thus observed the Secondary Education Commission. Secondary school must be transformed into an “activity school” because activity has an irresistible appeal for every normal child.
Co-curricular activities must be related to the academic work and supplement it. In the actual working of the various academic activities like debates discussions, dramas, school magazines and social activities like the running of co-operative store, scouting, labour service weeks, relief work, the teachers and the students will feel that these two types of activities are not divided into watertight compartments.
ADVERTISEMENTS:
In the opinion of G.D. Sondhi the field of recreation is so wide that there is no school, no teacher, no student that cannot find something of interest in it. If there are no playgrounds, yet there arc school courtyards and school rooms where some form of recreation can be introduced, i.e., group dancing, play acting, paper cutting, clay modeling, group singing, carpentering, spinning, weaving etc. All these activities help in the development of emotional control.
Outdoor activities like camping, gardening, social service rendering are very useful in building up some of the basic requirement of the adolescents-the spirit of service, observation, courage, initiative and determination.
Participation of the students in the management of some activities like maintenance of discipline, boys’ funds, magazines, etc. also contribute a lot in making the school environment very healthy and cheerful.