For years we at Krayon have been propagating the fact that schools should encourage children to participate in inter school activities that help them to discover their innate talents. I am glad that the National Curriculum Framework endorses this view of ours. According to the CCE guidelines given by the CBSE board children will be evaluated on their co-curricular activities along with sports.

At Krayon, we have done several studies to evaluate impact of events and competitions on children who participate in them. The one fact that stands out as a beacon is that if we have to enhance the self esteem of children, the best way to do it is to expose them to platforms where they can explore their talents. The boost it gives to their self esteem and self confidence is amazing, better still this confidence rubs off on other areas of their lives. For example the confidence painters or debaters get from their event gives them the confidence to face exams better or handle real life situations better. In addition to confidence building intra school and inter school co-curricular activities teach a lot of other important life lessons to children

• Very often children grow up believing that they are the best till they are exposed to children from other institutions. Events exposure helps in grounding them and their confidence.

• When children see someone perform well, they instantly applaud. This teaches them to appreciate the performances of others. This is a great attribute in a society that fails to appreciate the good that happens around it.
• Success and failure in events enable children to learn handle failure and victory.
• Normally most team and group events require them to work with several other students, teachers and help staff. This experience teaches them the importance of team work and coordination.
• The ultimate aim of every participant is to perform well, this gives them an important lesson on Quality
• After every event children are keen to know how they performed from their peers and the audience. This is a great experience for them to learn about feedback and course correction to perform better in future.

If we look closely, the lessons which children learn from co-curricular activities can help bridge the gap between what the industry expects from educated young people and what the present educational system is churning out.