Extracurricular activities in schools
We welcome the PM's statement that schools should give extracurricular activities as much importance as studies. The comment is indeed timely for it has come at a time when very few open spaces have been left for recreational purposes for children.
Most of the private schools in big cities lack playground, as a result of which sport remains absent in the life of most of the students. There is hardly any government-run facility for track and field and other sporting events. Not only that, some major playgrounds are being encroached upon, depriving the children of the outdoor activities necessary to build a healthy and wise nation.
While we have burdened the students with books, we have squeezed the other avenues through which children can make their hidden talents flourish. Worse still, a society with a huge youth population like ours is susceptible to disruptions if it does not channel the energy of its youths into the right path.
We believe that the PM's comments need to be followed through with actions on the ground. It is critically important to revive the club culture at schools so that students can pursue their areas of interest such as debate, trekking and philately. Bangladesh National Cadet Corps (BNCC) and Scout and Cubs should have branches in all educational institutions and a student's participation in them can be made mandatory. Government-run sport bodies must hold inter-school tournaments in all disciplines, and sport, especially track and field, needs to be incorporated into the school curricula. On top of it all, it is important to create a child-friendly sporting infrastructure.
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