The Positive Impact of Extracurricular Activities on Student Achievement

The Positive Impact of Extracurricular Activities on Student Achievement

By: Akbar Toha

Chemistry Education Student

Faculty of Tarbiyah and Teacher Training

UIN Sunan Kalijaga Yogyakarta

Learning achievement is the accomplishment of students throughout their education, whether in primary, secondary, or higher education. Learning is an effort made by learners to acquire knowledge. Schools are known as educational institutions that develop students' potential in realising the national goals of education in Indonesia. Education in Indonesia is able to produce a generation that is intelligent, resilient, strong, wise, and brings honour to the name of the Indonesian nation.

Schools are able to shape students' character to be intelligent, noble, knowledgeable, and faithful, certainly through the learning applied in schools such as science, social studies, languages, religion, and civics. Besides these subjects, there are activities outside the classroom that can develop students' academic achievement, such as extracurricular activities. Extracurricular activities are activities carried out outside school lesson hours, with the aim of broadening students' knowledge. According to Regulation of the Minister of Education and Culture number 62 of 2014, extracurricular activities are held with the aim of optimally developing students' potential, talents, interests, abilities, personality, cooperation, and independence in order to achieve national education goals.

With extracurricular activities at school, students are expected to make use of the facilities provided by the school. For example, in sports such as volleyball and badminton, then there are silat, PMR (Youth Red Cross), traditional and modern music, KIR (youth scientific group), and the compulsory extracurricular, scouting. According to Nuryanto (2017), extracurricular activities in education are intended as a response to students' needs, to help those who lack an enriched learning environment, and to stimulate them to be more creative.    

Although almost all schools already provide extracurricular activities, there are still obstacles in carrying them out. Here are some obstacles or problems with extracurricular activities in schools. First, the school lacks funds to finance extracurricular activities. Limited funds prevent extracurricular activities from running well. Funds are an important resource for running any activity, whether extracurricular activities or organisations.

Second, there is no clear extracurricular programme yet. An activity programme is a means that must be in place to run extracurricular activities. An unclear programme can make students uninterested in joining extracurricular activities. If there is a clear activity programme, it can influence students' thinking so that they join extracurricular activities.

Third, many teachers teach extracurricular activities in various schools. For teachers who can manage their time consistently, this is not a problem. In fact it is even better, because their expertise in developing students' potential has been proven. The problem is teachers' inability to divide their time. This often happens in extracurricular activities in sports, such as volleyball, basketball, and others. Teachers' inconsistency in teaching can hamper students' potential.

Fourth, there is no academic teacher guidance giving direction to their students. Without realising it, the teacher's role also influences how extracurricular activities are carried out. The more teachers guide their students to join extracurricular activities, the more students will gradually change their minds and take part. The problem is that teachers do not motivate students that extracurricular activities are very important in developing student achievement.

Fifth, lately there are still many students who are reluctant to join extracurricular activities. In their view, extracurricular activities only disturb students' concentration on learning, and are just a waste of time or of no benefit. Yet, as we know, extracurricular activities accelerate student achievement.

For these problems, the right solutions are as follows. School principals must pay attention to the competence of extracurricular supervisors and coaches by reviewing the skill certificates and experience held by them, so that they can train students to the fullest and bring their students to be high achievers, both in academic and non-academic fields.

Extracurricular supervisors and coaches must understand and pay attention to students' skills and optimise the talents and interests that students have, so that coaches and supervisors can know the extent of students' abilities in extracurricular activities. 

Accompanying teachers or homeroom teachers can explain to students that extracurricular activities are important, because extracurricular activities are a means of developing or proving students' abilities in line with their talents.

Students who already take part in extracurricular activities can pursue them earnestly and be more active in the extracurricular activities they have chosen. Meanwhile, students who have not joined extracurricular activities are expected to join them appropriately, in line with their talents and interests, so that their abilities can develop and improve, and so that in the future they have independence and skills beyond academic education as provisions for the time to come.

Schools need to determine the priority choices of extracurricular activities to be held in each school. Extracurricular activities must be based on an analysis of students' talents and interests, as well as the school's capacity to provide the resources needed to run them. If extracurricular activities run well, the school will easily identify its high-achieving students. If there is a competition at school level, the school can easily select students to take part in it. And when students excel in extracurricular activities, it can motivate other students.

In essence, extracurricular activities greatly influence students' academic achievement. Rather than slowing down student achievement, they actually accelerate it, because with extracurricular activities students deepen their pursuit of knowledge even further. Therefore, every school must make extracurricular activities compulsory, at least one. This is to accelerate and increase student achievement.