One more day to go and school will close.While addressing morning assembly today I wished children safe holiday and asked them if they were waiting for the holidays? Got the answer in their smiles and sparkling eyes.
There are very contrasting views on whether these long summer holidays add to the academic excellence or add any value to their progress. Studies in the US have shown that assessment done after the long holidays yield lower results than assessment done during the course of an academic year. In contrast in another study it was found that students from affluent families tend to do much better than their counterparts from poor families. Reason?
Affluent parents keep scheduling their children's holidays by sending them to new and varied experiences; a dance class, a drama class,a language course, trips to museums,exhibitions, summer camps,an extra tuition for weak subjects,etc. Whereas children from poorer homes will enjoy their summer but it will not help them to hone their skills and increase their knowledge.Poor parents are too busy earning their living to care or even think of channelizing their children's long holidays into such activities.Moreover these parents 'leave' all this to schools and thereby fail to realize the immense role they can play in parenting their children.