The schools of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia are rightly well regarded for their standards of excellence. The leading international school in Kuala Lumpur like the Global Indian International School offers the best in terms of curricula (CBSE and Cambridge IGCSE) to help students fare well in life. That being stated these internationals schools equally realize that it's extremely important to accord a lot of importance to extracurricular activities. Here’s a look at how extracurricular activities contribute to the development of children.
1. Help enhance academic performance
Paradoxical as it may seem, participating in extracurricular activity may actually lead to enhanced academic performance! Participating in any kind of activity like sports, theatre, or music that a child is passionate about helps augment brain function. That in turn leads to better academic performance. So whether an international school follows the CBSE curriculum or the IGCSE curriculum, including extracurricular activities in its schedule of activities ends up benefiting the students in more ways than one.
2. Allow students to pursue their passion
A good school with great infrastructure and proper mentoring for various extracurricular activities can help ignite a passion for things like sports and the arts in young minds. They may go on to make careers in these fields or take a lifelong passionate interest in something that they simply love doing. In either case, it helps develop a sense of dedication, duty, and responsibility in students-something that benefits them for the rest of their lives.
3. Provide them with important life skills
Engaging in extracurricular activities inculcates a host of life skills in young students. They are able to learn the virtues of teamwork, setting goals, time management, striving to achieve goals, leadership, time management, and problem-solving. All of these are character-building skills that will help these students become highly efficient and useful members of society when they grow up.
4. Enhance Social Skills
Participating in extracurricular activities requires students to interact, cooperate and compete with each other, which makes them better their social skills. This is something that one may not pick up so much in the classrooms. Success in life depends not just on what you learn from books, but also on what you learn from other people in different kinds of situations.
5.Teach You the Value of Hardwork and Discipline
Participating in extracurricular activities helps you understand that mere passion alone won’t obtain you success. It has to be accompanied by hard work and discipline. Winning a football tournament, for example, won’t come only because you are naturally gifted. You have to practice very hard capitalizing on your gift and getting better and better at what you do. You also have to learn strategizing which requires you to analyze the competitors’ strengths and weaknesses, so as to devise a plan to do better than them. These are lessons that last you for a long time and play a huge part in making you successful in life.
6. Improve Your Health
The old adage-all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy is absolutely right in its message. Young people are not meant only to gain academic knowledge. They are supposed to play games, participate in cultural activities and learn about music and drama. Doing all of that is great for the mental and physical health of children.
At a time when the global pandemic has had a devastating impact on people’s health, it makes eminent sense to inculcate a culture of healthy living in our children right from the time that they are very small. Extracurricular activities can help achieve all of that. Of course, till the time the pandemic lasts the restrictions pertaining to social distancing have to be incorporated and observed, even while the children are provided with as normal an environment as possible.
Conclusion
It is normal for human beings to want to socialize and indulge in recreational activities. That forms the essence of the human spirit. In providing the wherewithal to do that by way of extracurricular activities, schools try to foster that elemental spirit in their students. Much as what they study in the classrooms helps them shape their destiny, the life skills that they pick up via extracurricular activities are just as important.
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