The best way to help underachieving pupils is to have compulsory after school activities which they must attend. This way they will become more involved in school and their grades will improve. To what extent do you agree?

Not all children perform well in their academics and secure good grades. There are students who struggle to qualify in their exams. There are many underlying reasons for poor performance. It is the combined responsibility of the parent and the teacher to identify the causes and help them perform better. So I’m afraid I disagree with the fact that they have to attend after school activities compulsorily. It will not bestow any extra intelligence or give them the wisdom and knowledge that they failed to acquire in their regular classes. In the forthcoming paragraphs, I shall delve deep into this issue. Children who are already burdened with classes from morning till evening will not find after school classes interesting. Instead, they will become more tired, and there is a potential danger of them losing interest in studies forever. Parents should analyse why their child is underperforming. It may be due to family or school environment, lack of natural ability to understand a particular subject, lack of motivation etc. Parents must offer psychological help to these students, find out the root cause and focus on improving the pain areas. For example, parents may have divorced, which may have affected the child. So it must be communicated to teachers, and they can compensate by providing a supportive environment in the school which may make the child feel better. They may be bullied in the school by peers due to their inability to understand a particular subject. Parents have to talk to their children to find out the mental turmoil they undergo and provide them with the right kind of help. In this case, they can arrange an in-person tutor for that particular subject. Rather than following the herd and dumping after school activities, parents must come up with innovative strategies to help their children. Although schools promise that they give extra-ordinary coaching in the after school sessions, it is still a mystery why they cannot do it in the regular classes. In conclusion, parents and schools must strive to find out the causes of underachieving. It may vary from student to another. So paying individual attention, conducting counselling sessions, devising appropriate strategies, along with the support of family and teachers, will help them perform better.