Some people think that school children need to learn practical skills such as car maintenance or bank account management along with the academic subjects at school. To what extent do you agree or disagree?

There are obvious reasons for school children to learn practical skills and develop an understanding about the practical tasks in daily routine. However, some people advocate that students should not be advised to learn such skills as this may deteriorate the quality of their academic education. Here, in this essay I will accord for the opinions and suggest my own thoughts.

There is one important reason for students to learn practical skills. These skills will prepare them for future role that they need to fulfil once they grow up. For instance, I have noticed many individuals in their adulthood who were not ready to handle basic tasks like withdrawing money from ATM machines, replacing defected tyre of a vehicle and tasks as easy as making a cup of coffee. Seeing such situations, it becomes difficult to understand as to why they are not ready to handle miniscule tasks like these. Were they not given sufficient opportunity to develop these skills or there is a lack of will. Whatever, the reasons may be, it looks like that solution is to make them learn these skills and make them understand about benefits of these skills in their livelihood. Obviously, one such place to learn these skills is a school where pupils of diverse backgrounds come together to study. Educationalists and concerned authorities can make practical skills a part of school curriculum. Hence, it will become easy for students to learn these skills in calculated manner along with their peers.

There are many who disagree with the thought to make practical skills part of mandatory syllabus. To an extent their concerns look valid when they suggest that it will hamper the quality of their academics or sports activity. In some parts of the world like India, it is commonly felt that students are already overburdened with their studies. While educational authorities are debating to decrease the burden of studies upon students, it looks unfair to add another curriculum about practical skills.

Here, I personally believe that students should be taught practical skills practically through application of games. It will make learning process interesting and at the same time it will not add to the burden of studies.