The school is a place that is not restricted to formal, classroom learning. It is also a place where students explore, develop and hone their interests in sports, literature and arts. Schools pay special attention to these extra-curricular activities as they are essential for recreational purposes. By participating in extra-curricular activities, students cultivate a long-lasting passion for creativity and a deep interest in collaborating with others. Even though extra-curricular activities offer all these benefits, I find the way many schools and the Department of Education, especially in the Jaffna district, conduct these activities problematic and disappointing. This Kuppi Talk article raises the question whether the manner in which these activities are conducted and the increase in the time allocated to these activities, sometimes at the expense of required classroom learning, is yielding the desired outcome. Observing that extra-curricular activities are now narrowly understood as competitions, the article unpacks the colonialist ideologies that undergird some of them and calls for a renewed approach that lays emphasis on creativity and collaboration.
Less Classroom Learning
Within the past two decades, I have seen significant changes in the way extra-curricular activities are done in schools in Jaffna. When I was a student, games like cricket were seasonal. We had cricket during the first school term and football during the third term. There has been a significant increase in the number of tournaments and friendly matches that schools enter over the years. The number of English language day competitions, organised by the Department of Education, has also increased. Many of these matches, and competitions, take too much time to organise. They start at the school level and end at the national level, running through the year. Do we really need these many competitions and tournaments? Should all the competitions go up to the national level? Why not end some of them at the provincial or zonal level so that students can engage in a wide array of activities rather than focus on one or two for a prolonged period?
Students, at leading schools in Jaffna, attend coaching sessions and participate in matches on week days, during school hours, sometimes as early as 9 a.m. Teachers complain that the students who participate in sports are hardly present in the classroom. Teaching, too, gets affected when extra-curricular activities consume too much time. When teachers halt teaching, during school hours, in order to coach students for competitions, or accompany them to matches that happen at other schools or outstation, they find it difficult to finish the lessons within the timeframe stipulated in the curriculum. School administrations find it difficult to take care of entire classes that idle when teachers have to concentrate on extra-curricular activities.
One does not have to worry too much if this is merely sporadic and not widespread. But what I see today, at least in Jaffna, is that these practices are becoming regular and normal. To mitigate this situation, there should be a reduction in the extra-curricular activities, or some of the extra-curricular activities should be brought into the curriculum in a more prominent manner and more time should be allocated to them within the curriculum. The latter may even help us frame education in an inclusive manner, beyond formal, classroom learning, catering to the diverse interests and abilities of the students.
When the school hours spent on teaching and learning the curriculum decreases, due to the increase in the time spent on extra-curricular activities, students, who participate in these activities, turn towards private tuition centres for formal learning. On the other hand, as children and parents prioritise private tuition centres over schools, they show a general reluctance to participate in extra-curricular activities after school hours and agree to sign up for them only if the coaching is done during school hours. The schools even schedule their coaching sessions during school hours, or at night, so that they do not clash with tuition time tables. These trends contribute to the tuition industry in Jaffna to remain a thriving one.
Colonial Content
The English Language Day competitions, organised by the Ministry of Education, have many benefits. They create opportunities for students to speak, write and use the language in creative and practical ways. However, the assumptions and ideologies behind these competitions are colonialist and elitist. What students are required to do in these competitions remains disconnected from the socio-cultural contexts from where the students come. They implicitly and explicitly frame English as a foreign, or elite language, that can only convey foreign or elite experiences. For instance, in one educational zone, children were instructed, by an educational officer, not to stage plays that are local in content. They were even told not to dress in local styles. Last year, a play that focused on the economic crisis, and Aragalaya, was rejected as it was considered too political by the judges.
The circular, issued by the Ministry of Education, bars the use of Tamil or Sinhala words in theatrical productions. As a result, students are not even able to use kinship terms in their native languages. Even as our educationists and linguists claim that we are committed to democratising and localising the English language by encouraging linguistic cross-pollination, instructions that come from the top valorise linguistic purity and stifle creativity.
Until 2024, students in Grades 12 and 13 were required to memorise speeches made by American presidents John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagon for these competitions. These speeches are imperialist in content, patronising towards the cultures and communities in the global south and had no relevance to the lived experiences of the students who deliver them. Thankfully, they have now been taken off the circular, and replaced with better ones with themes such as challenging stereotypes about communities and environmental protection.
Unhealthy Competition
It is deeply worrying that schools and education officers focus only on the competition aspect of the extra-curricular activities and ignore the values that these activities can instill in the student. All drama competitions are held closed door with only a teacher from the participating school allowed to watch and that, too, when their school performs. The organisers justify this practice on the grounds that it prevents unnecessary speculation about how the winners are chosen. When students are denied opportunities to see each other perform, they are discouraged from appreciating one another’s abilities and learning from each other. Students, teachers and schools are made to think the sole purpose of participation is winning prizes. When the results are announced, there emerge questions about transparency and bias. Schools and students that did not win prizes are unable to accept the outcome as they did not have a chance to see how the winners had performed. This lack of openness promotes intolerance and rivalries.
Many schools view competitions and matches as a way of creating a name for themselves and claiming a superior position over other schools. There is pressure on students and teachers by school administrations and alumni associations that they have to somehow win a prize. Sadly, there is very little interest in framing these activities as opportunities for aesthetic appreciation or collaboration. The point that these competitions can help students prepare to face setbacks in their own lives without resorting to harmful actions is sadly lost.
Creativity as Connection
Creativity should lead to connections. Such connections should happen not just between two or more schools but the school and the community around it. These days, cultural events, such as theatre and dancing, are organised in many schools, mostly to prepare students for competitions. There has been little interest among schools in organising cultural activities that are open to the wider public. The annual English and Tamil Language Days generally take place during school hours and are not even open to the parents of the participating students. What is the point in having events when arts and creativity are delinked from artistic appreciation? Why should students and teachers spend so much time on extra-curricular activities, if such activities are not made open to the public?
In Sri Lanka and the world over, many who had excelled in singing, acting, dancing and public-speaking during their school days later became well-known artists in their respective fields. There is no question that students need extra-curricular activities to become emotionally healthy and holistic in their outlook. But there should be efforts to make these activities democratic, less burdensome and more meaningful to students, schools and the wider community. The government should make sure that these activities do not hamper required formal learning, increase the burden on teachers and students and affect inter-school relations. As the country is debating the new educational reforms, these questions need to be brought to the centre stage since they have a strong bearing on the overall quality of education offered by our general education system.
Mahendran Thiruvarangan
