According to Rosa Hayes in "Finding Extra Curriculum Activities for Your Child" at "Close Window":
"Extra curriculum activities are a way for your child to explore other parts of learning through art, sports, music and through meeting other people. "Children of all ages have extra curriculum activities and most of these are based in school but can be done outside of school also. How do you help your child to find the right extra curriculum activity? "1. Explain to your child that they will need to do school work first before participating in any extra curriculum activity. This will not hurt your child and may even help them to learn that you should always do the important things first. "Explain to your child that they should choose an activity that they will be able to do after their school work is completed and that they will need to keep their grades up in order to participate. This will give your child edge to thrive on. "2. Both you and your child should know that activities usually require attendance after school and sometimes on the weekends.
"Activities like sports will often require the child to participate after school and sometimes they will not get home until late on a school night. Activities like the girl scouts will often do skill training and camping on the weekend.
"3. Extra curriculum activities are a commitment that they will need to stick too. A lot of these activities will require a certain amount of participation after joining. "If the requirements are not met, they could be kicked off the activity. Talk to your child and see what they are interested in. If your child seems to be more of a loner, find out why they don't want to join any activities. "The most enjoyable activities for children who are loners are book clubs, music clubs or classes, computer training classes, and other activity that allows them to work by themselves for most of the activities and still allows them to enjoy themselves and learn a new skill."
If principals and staff implement the curriculum intelligently and properly, the students will not have to rely on external agencies unnecessarily. Prizes must not be to seduce schools to participate in activities.
The worth of the programmes should determine participation by schools. We need our students to concentrate without too many distractions. Participation in extra curricular activities must be integral to the curriculum and must yield real benefits to the students. In this regard, Education Minister Dr Tim Gopeesingh has been very explicit. There is no cessation of extra curricular activities but rather a review of each application to conclude whether it is desirable or not, and whether students' involvement will be productive. Similarly, many people have expressed irrational opinions on the issue of religious education in schools. Without the benefits of listening or careful reading, they have confused religious education with religious instruction. In an enlightened world, parochialism has to be dismantled if we are to appreciate the value which each religion and culture contribute to society and humanity. Religious education is an understanding and awareness of the principles and values of each religion; it is not an introduction into the religion.
Denominational boards by virtue of the Concordat have the exclusive right to propagate the religion of the board in its schools. But this does not eliminate the value of exposing the students to knowledge of the various religions. People seem to be concerned by the prospect of teachers infusing their own beliefs in the transmission of information.However, for teachers so predisposed, this can be done in every subject of the curriculum as well as in informal conversations in the classroom. Religious education is really the compiling of information about each faith in a factual and objective manner, and their pieces of information can be vetted by an expert panel to ensure that nothing offensive is included. Features in the newspapers, for example on Christmas, Eid and Divali, present factual information in a non-threatening manner so that the national community can learn about each other. Additionally, the core values of different religions are quite similar and can be of great benefit in shaping the psyche of students in a positive manner.
It must also be appreciated that all schools, including board schools, have students from different faiths and this is an opportunity for each faith to be reflected in an objective way. Apart from the elements of religion in the social studies syllabus, we need to compile, distill and present each faith with a sense of equity and equal opportunity for exposure. All great cultures have extracted the best of other cultures. Even though the different religions will continue to have personnel presenting information to adherents of the respected faith in schools, we need to expand our vision by including information to all religions.
To introduce religious education is really a simple task. The confusion is really in mistaking religious education for religious instruction.
Satnarayan Maharaj is the secretary general of the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha