A school with a big heart for its students
07:07:16
Yesterday was the official opening of the basketball court at the Royal International School Kurunegala. This is the school that I spend most of my time, and the school is founded by the same person as Selyn; Mrs. Sandra Wanduragala. Both initiatives are managed by Sandra with the support of her family.
However, the focus was on the opening of the basketball court for the students at RIS. The basketball court has been one of Sandra’s ambitions to provide children at the RIS with the necessary sport facilities for them to become motivated and active children. Because of Sandra’s strong ambition children are given the opportunity to develop skills such as teamwork and leadership, characteristics that are hard to educate in the classroom.
The two teams that where invited to play at the opening; the Sinha regiment and Military Police.
The majority of youth in Sri Lanka face the reality of an education that focus on the enrolment of students rather than the quality. This development has normalised afterschool lectures during both weeks and weekends to gain the skills needed to compete in the labour market. Therefore children in Sri Lanka have little time left to be what they are; children.
In light of this the RIS are committed to provide high quality education as well as encourage students in a positive manner by providing the tools necessary for them to be active in different sports and other extra-curricular activities. By letting children be children and participate in healthy extra-curricular activities have also proven by research to have a positive impact on academic achievements.
When talking with one of the employees at RIS I learned that parents and students in Sri Lanka are very exam oriented. Doing activities out side of the curriculum during school hours are hard to implement such as social activities or even internships because many parents feel that their children’s time is wasted. I find this very interesting because it partly explains the miss-match between out-of-school children and the labour demand in Sri Lanka. Working is not about getting an A on an exam it is about so much more! It’s about real life experiences and how you as a person handle different situations, and it is also about you working with something that you find interesting and how you chose to be as a person when working with other employees and the list goes on! The person I spoke to are planning to make students learn in different, more creative ways, for students to have fun and learn at the same time. I think that this is something that all educational institutions should keep in mind.
