With the world fast-changing, children from the current generation have to prepare for stiff competition, no matter which career path they choose. Gone are the days when a decent academic report (good grades, timely submissions, clarity of concepts, etc.) was enough to get you your dream job. Today, more people are competing for the same position (with similar academic records) than ever before. The only thing that can set your profile apart is the value you add to the organization you work for.
Now is the worst time to be like the proverbial dull Jack, who only focused on grades and paid no heed to club activities. As more and more parents reassess the importance of holistic child development, there is a growing need to make co-curricular and extra-curricular activities mainstream and not just a hobby kids pick up in school.
At the Excelsior American School, one of the top 10 international schools in Gurgaon, we firmly believe in the need to deliver the young minds with the true kind of holistic education, where academics and a gamut of fun and engaging activity clubs go hand-in-hand. We believe it is high time to stop focusing on merely the academic records of children as the whole and sole meaning of development. Instead, the focus should be on all-round development and empowering the kids with as many skills as they need to make a mark in the world outside school.
In this blog today, we will shed light on why you shouldn’t ignore your kid’s co-curricular activities to make the child sail in academics and how your encouragement towards your kids’ proactive involvement in co-curricular activities can pay off in the future. Happy reading!
What are Co-Curricular Activities?
Before moving on to their role in making your child job-ready, we must understand what comprises co-curricular activities and their benefits. Is it only about adding skills to your child’s resume? Or do they serve a greater purpose? Read on to find out more.
As the name suggests, these are school-based activities that happen alongside academic learning. The other similar set of activities (which often get mixed up) are the extra-curricular activities.
Co-curricular activities are the best way to take a lesson outside the limits of the classroom. While these are not strictly academic, but they supplement theoretical knowledge. They help in experiential learning by giving children a real-life application of the textbook concepts they picked up in class.
At the Excelsior American School, a renowned international school in Gurgaon, we focus on providing holistic learning experiences by encouraging our students to learn by doing. It helps nurture critical skills like meta-cognitive thinking, critical and logical reasoning, collaboration and teamwork, etc.
Some of the co-curricular activities are compulsory skill-learning modules like music, drama, art, etc. But that’s not all. Modern schools that understand the importance of such activities in overall child development invest in other clubs like social service clubs, math clubs, newsrooms, spelling clubs, public speaking clubs, etc.
21st-Century Skills and Competencies that Co-Curricular Activities Can Teach Your Child
- Analytical and Critical Thinking – The power to analyze complex problems.
- Creative Thinking – The ability to look at the same problem with newer perspectives and visualize them innovatively.
- Solution-Based Thinking – The ability to come up with innovative solutions for common problems.
- Leadership Qualities – The ability to take initiatives proactively and own up to responsibilities. It also entails setting achievable goals for others and themselves.
- Social Intelligence – Maintaining good interpersonal relationships and collaborating with others to achieve a common goal.
- Emotional Intelligence – Taking control of their emotions and comprehending their strengths and weaknesses. It is also about building an empathic perspective for others.
- Communication Skills – The ability to express yourself with clarity, listen patiently, and get better at public speaking.
- Technology Savviness – Staying on top of things by using the latest technology and tools.
- Ethical Values – The ability to lead by example and take the moral high ground, even in the face of challenges.
- Work-Life Balance – The ability to strike a harmonious balance between work and personal life and knowing when to unwind.
How Co-curricular Activities Help to Carve Great Career Paths?
Now let’s talk about how participating in co-curricular activities can help your child be job-ready. Here are the five ways worth noting.
- Active Participation in Activities Enhances Personality
Everyone knows the importance of good first impressions. A pleasing personality goes a long way in a sea of candidates (with equally good academic records). Participating in school activities helps kids become more confident and better critical thinkers. Such children don’t find any situation intimidating and are always prepared to make an everlasting impression.
- Regular Exposure to Different Situations Boosts Self-Confidence
Remember the first time you got up on the stage to perform? Well, with time, the jitters go away, and you become more and more comfortable facing an audience! This is the same with co-curricular activities. In addition to learning a skill, activities like public speaking help children overcome their fear of facing an audience. The result is a child who is full of positive thoughts and self-confidence.
- Skill Development is the Way to Become Future-Ready
Only academic knowledge cannot give the results you want for your child. You have to work on developing your child’s skills and competencies. Co-curricular activities help you realize this vision in the most organic and fun way. As a leading international school in Gurgaon, we, at the Excelsior American School, emphasize skill-based learning so that our students are ready to apply academic concepts in real-life situations with grace and ease.
- Co-curricular Activities Supplement Academic Performance
When it comes to schools, parents always prefer teaching techniques that result in improved academic performance. But do you know that in addition to building your child’s overall personality, co-curricular activities also have a direct role in improving grades? Since these activities supplement academic learning, they help a child grasp concepts, manage time, and apply those learnings in real-life situations.
Summing Up
The world today is changing drastically, even as you read this blog. So, it is not fair to expect the kids to magically learn new concepts and the latest skills all at once. The right way to help them build a fulfilling career is by giving them ample opportunities to learn throughout their early lives. Schools play an important role in creating these opportunities.
At the Excelsior American School, we understand the importance of co-curricular and extra-curricular activities and have thus integrated them into our holistic learning framework. Moreover, the IGCSE curriculum that we follow equally emphasizes on encouraging and empowering the young minds to recognize and hone their interests in various co-curricular arenas just as much as it focuses on refining their academic know-how. This helps to ensure the holistic growth of kids in the real sense of the term.
Here’s hoping you enjoyed reading this blog and the next time your child comes up to you expressing his/her interest in any of the co-curricular activities, you will have renewed faith in the role it is going to play in building his future.
