Why learn after school hours? It can be useful for capability development

Is there any need for after-school learning if children are admitted into good schools, where teachers are meticulous and the curriculum, progressive?

The answer is a plain and simple 'no'; not if they have to study the curriculum itself. But after-school learning can be useful for skills and capability development that need not necessarily be linked to the school curriculum.

For most people, after-school learning is synonymous with tuition classes. Tuitions are so rampant now that they're almost seen as a menace.  Attending tuition classes has become a fad nowadays, and students throng these places in their pursuit of good marks at school as well as board exams. In a marks-based school examination system, such as was prevalent until a few months ago, after-school tuition classes thrived.

However, these tuition classes are quite stressful for students since they hardly keep pace with the school schedule. While the school may be teaching a different chapter and concepts and will evaluate the same chapter or concepts during the weekly or unit test, tuition class follow their own timetable, teaching different chapters and concepts altogether. Thus, students end up appearing for two sets of weekly exams, and preparing for two different chapters during the same week.

Hopefully, with the ongoing education reforms and with the class X board exams being made optional, marks-based learning will give way to concept, skill and project-based learning. Tuition classes will then give way to learning centres.

Ideally, students should attend after-school learning centres where specific skills are taught. For example, writing skills are critical to both student and professional life. Writing is more than merely arranging words in a logical sequence. It is the result of a complicated process of thinking.  Most educational institutions are unable to give sufficient instruction for and practice in writing. Evaluating writing skills is a yet another specialised job that most teachers are not trained for.

Creative thinking skills, Edward De Bono's '6 Thinking Hats' are some concepts that can be picked up at learning centres. The most popular centres among children are for learning math concepts and for developing a scientific temper. 

These days, robotics, animation and attitudinal building seem to be accepted choices. Learning centres such as ABC-MATH and Kumoan Learning Centres are a rage among Indian parents living in Japan and the US, where rigour and discipline are taught, not curricula.

In India though, a popular after-school activity is coaching or tutorial classes where there is the specific aim for coaching students, usually such as for appearing for a particular exam such as IIT, PMT, SAT, GMAT or TOEFL.

The essential difference between a tuition class and a learning centre is that the tuition class is an extension of the classroom.  Tuition classes re-do the chapters given in the school curriculum, enhance the practice and assessment sessions, giving weekly or daily tests.

Learning centres however, go beyond the classroom.

If after-school activity is chosen with care, it can be a great way to help students develop into self-learners with 21st century skill sets that require students to be independent and self-motivated learners.