Why engaging students in holidays is important

Many of us think tha Tsunami, and dreary animals like the lion are the most dangerous manmade and natural things. You are wrong!The most devastating, ravaging, overwhelming and distressing thing on earth that I have known is IDLENESS. Innumerable are the damages that the world has suffered as a result of untapped potential of the youth that has been adulterated and redirected to unconstructive and demeaning activities.The old adage, ‘an idle mind is the devil’s workshop,’ is a cliché only to those whose diligence has been sacrificed at the altar of emptiness and indolence.Students who are now enjoying a short holiday should not be left to stretch the seams of rest and rejuvenation after three months of rigorous academic work. Resting and revelling should be governed and controlled.Books must neither be left to dampen nor catch dust. They should be opened on daily basis for as many hours as can be possible depending on the ages of children involved.The human brain works in a rather interesting way. It is always at its best when there is a deliberate effort to train it to operate optimally. For students, learnt material is always brought to active memory when it is repeated and repeated through continuous revision. Any information that is not actively retrieved from the mind goes to the rote memory. In the rote memory you will often feel like you know something and it is in your memory but you cannot clearly remember it.After a lot of thinking, sometimes you can retrieve something from your rote memory especially when you are resting. However, sometimes you cannot precisely recall information that has gone to the rote memory. This is closely related to the theory of ‘use and disuse’ which postulates that parts/organs that are not very useful become extinct. You can also completely lose information that you do not actively retrieve from your memory.If you have completely forgotten something or how to do something, then you have no option but to learn afresh! This can be arduous for students if after every long and short break they have to restart learning old concepts as if they were new ones. This way, time that should be dedicated in advancing learning is wasted in re- learning old information.Subjects like math and physics require continuous practice to improve a student’s agility. Some of us who were somehow known for our numerical intelligence cannot do simple addition without a calculator because our minds are no longer taxed to work out simple or complicated numerals.Without a lot of digression, the bottom line is that holiday is not a period of redundancy and vegetating. It is an omelette of relaxation, recreation and academics for students. A delicate balance is needed between the ingredients of the holiday omelette. None of the ingredients should overshadow the other, otherwise, you will have a sloppy mess.Reading is a dreaded task. Even many adults do not like reading. Teenagers dislike reading tenfold. With this understanding, the need to study should not be lorded on the teenagers. To prove a point, they will rebel and try to show who holds the final word. They have the final word anyway. Such arguments like we have been studying day and night for three or four months will pop up. To succeed, parents have to be very discreet if they have to have their ideas bought.On the other hand, students can be engaged in local and national sport centres, workshops and seminars that can be beneficial in one way or another. The social and psychomotor realms can be further developed through all these avenues.