Extracurricular Activities as Integral to Development

After two years of online classes due to the pandemic, schools recently opened up

Back in August, Vice President Sara Duterte, and the concurrent Department of Education head told teachers in the Don Pedro Vasquez Memorial School in Guimaras to solely focus on academics to make up for the learning gap in the course of the pandemic.

“We are here to remind you to focus on the academics of our students … because there is a real difference between having pure online classes and in-person classes,”  said Vice President Sara Duterte.

According to Vice President Duterte, the priority of DepEd is academic development.

“We will release a department order that would detail what co-curricular and academic activities are allowed to be conducted this year. We are prohibiting extracurricular activities,”  said Duterte.

But The Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) released a statement following Vice President Duterte saying that “Extracurricular activities contribute to the learners’ holistic development and provide them different forms of enjoyable activities that also serve as a respite from intensive formal academic work,”

“This approach can be counterproductive (and) can lead to burnout among learners and teachers alike,” the statement added.

As someone personally very active during college in extra-curricular activities, I found comfort through these activities and was able to develop several skills which I was able to apply once I started working.

Aside from this, extra-curricular activities allow students to meet more people, expand their networks, and pick up skills beyond the four walls of the classroom.

Sources: Rappler, Inquirer