-Dr. (Mrs.) Amita Chauhan
Chairperson, Amity Group of Schools
Until a few decades ago, summer vacations meant a mandatory trip to our grandparent’s house, or the annual family vacation to the closest hill station. Children, who for some reason could do neither, would find their own ways to entertain themselves, whether it was by wandering around chasing squirrels and sparrows, or by climbing mango trees that were omnipresent in the summer months. For the less enterprising, it was about mostly staying indoors, with not much productive work to do. Holidays then were obviously synonymous with leisurely days spent with family and friends.
But times have changed now, and so has the idea of fun, with the rising popularity of what we call the summer school! To explain, a summer school offers short-term courses and conducts classes during summer vacations, and these are designed to train children in subjects different from their regular curriculum. They, therefore, provide children with a fine balance between opportunity and thrill, taking their learning to the next level and, above all, giving them novel ways to utilise time! What’s more, this concept has come as a boon for nuclear families where both parents are working, and they are more than happy to see their children indulge in interesting experiences rather than waste time in mindless television binging.
In India, several schools offer a plethora of summer programs. For instance, one can learn a foreign language, hone their music, dance and art skills, or take to gardening and cooking. Children can also train in sports like swimming and gymnastics. The creatively inclined can opt for courses in script writing and filmmaking, while for those with a scientific temperament, courses in robotics and astronomy are aplenty. Summer school courses not only provide a new learning, but also add to the credentials on the resume of a student. Many children plan of going to their favorite university for higher studies, whether in India or abroad, and summer schools can make it easier for them to get into their dream colleges. Since a lot of colleges and universities have an application and profile-based admission process, which gives more importance to individual achievement and experience than an academic score, joining a summer school is always a win-win situation. It showcases that a child has made the effort to go beyond the classroom to expand his or her learning. Since a summer school aims to inculcate expertise in a specific stream and knowledge, it adds to the child’s skill set. These creatively designed programmes focus on individual ability and talent and hence prepare a child for college life.
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What also makes summer schools special is their focus on experiential learning which provides students with a wider exposure to the outer world. Opting for a summer course exposes children to peers from different schools, diverse teaching methodologies and social backgrounds. It makes them more conscious of how to respect diversity and multiplicity. Open and candid discussions help children to think and express without inhibitions. Children are also able to move out of the comfort zone of their regular school and learn to experiment and adapt better to newer situations and circumstances. As an educator, I firmly believe that summer schools go a long way in developing great social skills in children that come handy in their future endeavors as well.
Having said this, I can still understand when some educators and parents say that summer schools impinge on children’s hard-earned free time. So, I would like to put these concerns at rest and reiterate that learning is, and should always be, an ongoing process. Let us not limit learning to merely a classroom or a bag full of books. Summer schools are a hub of learning and what really matters is that children find the freedom to choose for themselves what appeals to them.
We must give our children the luxury to look within, find their true calling in life and reach out for the dreams they silently harbour in their hearts. And this can only be done when they find themselves in a space unhindered by academic expectations and competitive environments. Let us not burden our children with a life that is only about peer pressure, or academic excellence, let us provide them a choice driven by interest and curiosity. A summer school that synchronises a child’s interests with that of specialised learning truly facilitates a holistic development. At Amity, we experience this outcome every year during our summer school programs as we come across many children who discover either a totally new persona, or who find new ways to express themselves.
It’s a welcome trend that more and more schools are developing specialised summer courses – some notable examples being Amity University Summer School or the Oxford Summer Courses — and it’s time we look at these immersive experiences as the new and cool way to tackle summer with a smile.
Also read: Women’s Day series: Dr. Amita Chauhan, Chairperson, Amity International Schools
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