Making children productive during school holidays is the focus of today’s viewpoint.it is written by Ayodele Aliyu, former director, academic planning, national broadcast academy, Lagos state.
After a period of tedious and challenging school session, students, teachers, guardians and parents look forward to a time to rest and refresh.
Holiday is a time without the early morning wakeups, taxing homework and breathtaking curricular activities.
For the children on one hand, and other significant individuals in the school programme, holidays signify a time to cool off.
Apart from academic programmes, holidays also guarantee that unending struggles in the traffic, constant race to arrive school in time and the prospect of a long school day; will temporarily be put on hold.
Therefore, every member of the family expresses a great relief when it is time to go on holiday.
In educational planning and management, holiday is an essential component of the session.
In spite of the benefits of holidays and much expected relief occasioned by school vacation, there is also a palpable concern about what productive use could children put their holidays.
Parents therefore, often get worried how to maintain excellent engagement of their children who are now out of the regular school routine.
While some schools put together holiday lessons and other vacation engagements, to keep their students within their watch, it is ill advised to start another academic calendar when students are supposed to be on holidays.
It should be emphasized that holiday is not a time to start another rounds of academic rigour.
Such a practice will rob the children the benefits of relaxation, exploration of alternative endeavours and non formal learning, which holidays are designed to offer.
Holiday is a time to engage the students in constructive, profitable and growth-related activities. It is a time when talents could be discovered and new skills be learnt, cultivated, and made to grow for the benefits of the children and the society.
Notwithstanding the lofty benefits of holidays, the sessional out of school period is not meant for idleness and wanton waste of time.
Certainly, students should not completely be left on their own, doing nothing.
Holidays could be used for productive engagement, personal exploration and self discovery among students.
One way to do this is to engage them in outdoor activities like sports, gardening, or any other environmental exploration.
This will help them develop their physical skills and sense of appreciation of the beauty of nature around them.
In another vein, students can also engage in learning new skills or developing new hobby such as painting, playing instrument, acquiring computer related skills.
Besides, holidays can be used to develop a total child.
This can be done when parents engage their children with assigned household activities including cooking, dish washing and laundry.
This will equip them with new domestic skills, sense of responsibility and prepare them for critical family roles in the future.
By giving tasks to children, we encourage them to be independent, develop work ethics, and sense of responsibility.
In addition, holiday is also a time for students to socialize, make new friends and create lifetime of connections as they participate in various activities outside of the regular school environment.
As much as necessary, the students are not supposed to keep a sedentary lifestyle during holidays, rather, they should readily participate in healthy and save physical activities to develop their minds and body.
Physical activities could impact essential life skills such as time management, teamwork and accountability in the young ones.
Beyond that, holidays should be an opportunity to expose children to career counselling, role modelling and mentorship.
At their formative years, children need to be properly guided, be introduced to the world of work, entrepreneurship and socio- economic activities,
Leadership training is another worthwhile opportunity for student during holiday. With leadership skills entrenched in the young people, the stage is set for them to take leadership role in their generation.
Students could also be engaged in group reading and reading challenges, healthy role plays and fieldtrips which can expand their vision beyond the classroom.
There is no end to diverse activities which are opened to students during holidays.
It is therefore incumbent on parents, teachers, schools authority, charity organizations and religious groups to work together to make school holidays fun filled, productive, and relaxing for students, with a view to preparing them for the next session.
