18/06/2024
What should students do during recess?
Across South African Higher Education Institutions (HEI) during the June/July period, students are on recess. The period of recess is a critical one for students. Recess is a period when students are on an official break from their studies. During this period, they have ample time on their hands and access to resources that they can leverage on, from their respective institutions. The resources are in the form of access to the internet, libraries, and computer devices. The fundamental objective of this narrative is to explore what students should and must do in this juncture.
We are currently living in a world driven by 21st century digital technologies and characterized by complex challenges. Young people, in particular students must go above and beyond the classroom education to be best prepared for the world we live in. It is imperative for students to use the recess period to rest, amass experience, learn a new skill/s, volunteer, do vacation work, foster relationships, attend events, take free online course, read a book, and/or revise among other things.
First, students who struggled academically and performed poorly are highly encouraged to use the recess to revise and prepare for the upcoming semester. Beyond catching up and preparing ahead, students should dedicate the period of holidays to learn a new skill/s fundamentally because the current economy requires people with skills that are relevant for the fast paced 21st century digitally driven world. Secondly, students should put the skills and knowledge they learnt from the classroom to use by volunteering and doing vacation work. As students volunteer, they will have a sense of purpose and learn about their passion. In addition, doing vacation work will not only reward students financially as they may earn a stipend, but they will also be gaining valuable experience. Both volunteering and vacation work will earn the students experience as well as get them references they can add on their Curriculum Vitae (CV).
Furthermore, I would like to challenge students to start, research, and push their own business ideas during holidays. The students can build something that they can graduate to run and give other students an opportunity. This will be a great intervention in a country like South Africa where unemployment is a pandemic. As and when students run their entrepreneurial ideas and do research, they will be developing themselves further, and thus giving themselves a competitive edge among their peers for opportunities such as fellowships, internships, and/or graduate opportunities.
In sum, I urge all students to do something with their lives during recess. As and when they are involved, they will subsequently find the thing that sets their souls on fire and makes them come alive. They will find that very thing that makes their heart skip a bit. As and when students keep searching, they will find something that makes them tick, what could be characterized as their passion in the true sense of the word. Students if they keep on searching, they will find that which allows them to produce magic, and that can only be found if they go beyond what is expected out of them. I do not only wish students a happy recess period, but I also wish them a productive one, maybe one for the history books. You did not come this far, just to come this far. Keep going.
Mafule Moswane is an alumnus of University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (SA), and Kansas State University (USA). He writes in his personal capacity.
