Education International Research
2.5 Sports, Drama, Arts and Music as Both Curricular and Extracurricular Activities Schools have a new emphasis on the importance of including subjects such as sports, drama, music and arts as part of the curriculum or as extracurricular activities and encouraging students’ clubs, such as debating or young farmers’ clubs, including growing coffee, animal husbandry, or tending to kitchen gardens to help supplement school-meals programmes. These activities are no longer viewed as peripheral to the main purpose of the school but that they have an education value in themselves and are integral to creating an inclusive school environment, encouraging excellence outside the mainstream academic curriculum. It also appears that, in many countries, the activities have a focus on celebrating and giving value to traditional folklore, music and dance and on ethnic diversity and culture. “In years before, when we carried out sports and cultural activities, it was to honour the children who had worked hard in their learning. Now it has been opened up and the main reason is to attract students who are at risk or who have abandoned school. Of course, the primary purpose of a school is education but it is also to have a good time, relax and have fun.” Monitoring group teacher, ‘Naum Veqilharxhi’ School, Korça, Albania “These activities are really an important factor in the struggle against school dropout. In that way, the student doesn’t get bored; it is another way of learning and motivating a student. Even with these games, we use educational techniques and they are learning to forge their future.” Nahass Hamad, Syndicat National des Enseignants-Syndicat National de l’Enseignement (SNE-FDT) Project Coordinator, Morocco In Zimbabwe, the schools have been able to integrate agricultural incomegenerating projects into the school curriculum which, following recent reforms, now places more emphasis on life skills and practical training, including in agriculture and carpentry. In Nicaragua, following training on these issues, the schools have incorporated crafts and carpentry classes and traditional dance, drama and music classes into the syllabus as part of the vocational training and cultural education classes. These activities are very popular with students, teachers and parents alike. Teachers consider they have helped considerably in improving attendance at schools and the crafts classes are used to help with geometry and other competency learning.
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