School clubs should always be vibrant

Paul Swaga If education is to fully benefit the young people, schools should encourage students to participate actively in clubs. Clubs help learners to develop several life skills that are not always adequately catered for in the classroom. It is wrong for some schools to put emphasis on academics only because co-curricular activities help to shape learners physically, mentally and morally. Over the years, I have observed that some schools do not put much emphasis on clubs and this affects the quality of learners that leave high school. Students should be equipped with practical and life skills that prepare them for adult challenges and responsibilities. In some schools where clubs exist, little facilitation is provided to enable participants engage in a variety of activities. Participants just keep conducting weekly meetings without doing anything substantial. Schools are supposed to provide a platform for learners to develop skills in leadership, teamwork, critical thinking, communication, problem solving, decision making and creativity among others. Clubs that are very helpful to students include debate, music, dance, drama, media, ICT, entrepreneurship, first aid and environmental protection among others. Each club should have a patron who has passion for a given activity such that he is able to inspire the participants to engage in several activities that benefit them. It is unwise for school administrators to randomly select the patrons for the various clubs because some teachers may not have interest in certain clubs and this makes them serve for formality and they do not give the necessary guidance to the participants. It is also advisable that the members of each club elect an executive committee which coordinates their activities. This gives the executive committee members chance to develop skills in leadership, decision making, problem solving, report writing, teamwork and goal setting. The members of each club have to set targets for each term or year and the patrons should guide them on how to meet the set targets. This requires them to conduct regular meetings to evaluate their progress, deal with the challenges and chart the way forward. School administrators should always try as much as possible to offer some small financial support to the clubs so that the members are able to implement what they have in their work plans. I know that schools are usually constrained financially but running clubs on lip service is unrealistic. Without financial support, there is nothing much that the young people can do. For instance, members of the first aid club cannot be of help to the school community if they lack first aid kits. When the participants realise that the school is not willing to support their initiatives, they lose morale. Administrators should encourage patrons to guide the participants on how to draft budgets that do not encroach so much on the school resources. There are certain clubs that can easily become self-sustaining in the long run like entrepreneurship, drama and media clubs. Students may be challenged to come up with business ideas that can enable them generate income out of their activities. For instance, the media club can publish newsletters and magazines that can be sold to raise money and this enables them develop entrepreneurship skills. They only need the initial capital to kick start their projects. Clubs can also be used to tame the behaviour of students because the members are expected to set expectations that they should adhere to and whoever behaves contrary to the set standards is reprimanded accordingly. This approach can help a great deal in improving on the students’ behaviourand cases of indiscipline can be minimized. The contribution of clubs to the physical, mental and moral transformation of young people should not be under estimated. Schools should support the clubs financially and the authorities should ensure that each student registers with a club and gets involved in all the activities.

Education

School clubs should always be vibrant