According to the norm, extracurricular activities are defined as being outside the regular curriculum of a school or college. But under Delhi University’s Four Year Undergraduate Programme (FYUP), sports and Extra Curricular Activities (ECA) have been pinned as obligatory. Cultural Activities including NCC, Sports, NSS and Extra Curricular Activity are an integral part of the programme and all students will have to take up a cultural activity in Semester III, IV, V, VI, VII and VIII in some form.
“In a way, making ECAs compulsory will boost up the societies’ performance, but on the other hand it will be more of a burden on the authorities and societies as well”, said Ayushi, Member of Alumna Cell, LSR College.
As per the curriculum, students will have to latch on papers like Integrating Mind, Body & Heart (IMBH) in the first two semesters and Cultural Activity (CA) from the third to the eighth semester. Indoor and outdoor teaching like visiting a museum or showing an informative movie and other fieldwork are some of the threshold activities included.
Making sports and ECA mandatory was objected by several teachers across the University. According to them, imposing Sports or ECA on over 1.5 lakh university students is absurd. It is like imposing homogeneity.
Arshiya, Member of NSS, Jesus & Mary College says “Compulsory ECAs will be helpful in identifying hidden talent rather than the usual focus on rote knowledge. There will be mixed crowd, including people who are passionate and others lacking interest and one can’t really hope to get the best of a student this way”
To ensure that all students get access to the activities they want and need, should ECAs be part of the curriculum? Let’s canvas the matter further.
Merits:
- In some countries, the educational systems are only based on fixed curriculum with a number of books and learning materials that most people consider them as insufficient or restrictive for the student’s comprehension skills and imaginations. Although it is now believed that today’s the best educational systems constitute not only a curriculum but also extra-curricular social or cultural activities which have many advantages like increase in sociability, learning new things and better motivation.
- Due to the fact that people will spend some time on extra-curricular activities in addition to studies, as a result, they will feel motivated, emotionally better and ready to take the challenge of studying varieties.
- Companies are looking for all-rounded students. While high marks serve as a testament to an applicant’s studiousness and intelligence, they do not indicate the type of person the applicant is. These activities lessen the likelihood of spurring anti social behavior and increase career prospects.
Demerits:
- Balancing academics work with extracurricular activities can be stressful for some students, especially when an abundance of activities (including travel!) takes up valuable time they need for studies or completing assignments.
- Students will have to stay out later than usual which can be tiring.
- A lot of them may find it difficult to get the right activity.
- Adding to all of these, the way societies function in most colleges is deeply hierarchical. So, while one might take up an activity due to the ‘compulsory notion’, making a mark in that field is not guaranteed. This might demotivate a lot of students.
One of the spotlighting features of the proposed scheme is that students will be awarded credit points for different papers as well as co-curricular activities. So if a student shines at sport, he can seek credit for it and avoid studying for a paper.
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