Education is a pretty broad concept that surpasses the four walls of a classroom. The core aim of education is to foster all round development of a child. All round development essentially means intellectual, physical, moral, sensible and social development. All round development can be achieved only through education. Education plays a fundamental role in the making of a man and his development as a culturally well developed social animal. To fulfil these objectives, there is a prime need of striking a balance between syllabus, curriculum, books and also co-curricular activities beyond that. Co-Curricular activities are those which are undertaken side by side with the curricular activities. A co-curricular activity essentially takes place outside a typical pen and pencil classroom experience. It gives the students an opportunity to develop particular skills and exhibit their non-academic abilities. These activities might be compulsory, such as music, art or drama classes that take place during the day. Others generally are voluntary, such as participating in school sports team, school debating team or student newsletters. In either case, participation can assist students in more than one ways. They actually complement the curricular activities and groom the students in the “Art of living and working together.” They are the true and practical experiences gained by students by their own learnings. A Chinese proverb very aptly states, “Teach me, and I will forget. Show me, and I might remember. Involve me, and I will never forget.” To a very great extent, the theoretical knowledge is enhanced when a co-curricular activity related to the content taught, is organized. Intellectual development of the personality is achieved to a great extent, in the classroom itself. But, the aesthetic development like character building, spiritual and moral values, physical growth, creativity and many more are backed up by co-curricular activities only. It also professes coordination, adjustment, and speech fluency, extempore and debating skills amongst students. It teaches the students to stand up for their rights. Co-curricular activities render a number of values like: 1. Educational value 2. Psychological Values, 3. Development of Social Values, 4. Development of Civic Values 5. Physical Development Values 6. Recreational Values 7. Cultural Values. Co- curricular activities are vital because even though they are not a part of the core curriculum, they play a very crucial role in giving the young boys and girls the ability to mould their lives to become well rounded people. The school activities have to be designed purposefully to give an apt mix of student’s participation in academics and also create a chance for all round development.
EXTRA- CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES
Diversity in clubs and extracurricular activities plays an important role in adolescent lives and futures. Exposure to diverse groups can help promote adolescents to become socially intelligent and responsible adults. However, being immersed in diverse populations is not enough, as it is only beneficial if members engage with each other.[8] More meaningful interactions with a diverse range of peers allows people to acquire traits such as more socially responsible leadership skills. At MES Kaithapoyil students can work with various clubs of their choices. The active clubs are English Language Club, Malayalam Language Club, Hindi Language Club, Media Club, Nature Club, Maths club, Science Club, Rotary Interact Club, Oisca International Club, Malayalamanorama Nallapadam , Mathrubhoomi Seed, Forest Club etc.,
SPORTS AND GAMES
The CBSE has prepared a 150-page manual detailing sports guidelines for schools for classes 9 to 12 and methodologies for implementing them. cording to the new guidelines aimed at mainstreaming health and physical education, it will be mandatory for schools to have a “sports” period daily during which students will have to go the playground but will be free to perform any physical activity listed in the manual and will be graded on the same.
“Health is often a state of physical, mental, emotional, social and spiritual well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. Hence, we have decided to mainstream health and physical education for class 9 to 12 with the aim of preventing them from having a sedentary lifestyle or turn into couch potatoes,”. Our students get training in football, volleyball and badminton to take part in various competitions organised by MES State Education Board, and CBSE Sahodayas.