Movies like ABCD, Gully Boy, Dangal, Mary Kom and the likes have created great interest in co-curricular learnings space predominantly in Music, Arts, Dance and Sports, and with the advent of professional championship, leagues and television reality shows opportunities for exposure and monetary benefits linked to that has also made parents look at their child’s development in a different manner.
Though mark- sheets and degree certification still remain their primary goal for their children, more and more parents have started exploring and nurturing other talents and skills their children may possess. Thus helping them set a base for multiple career path that their child may want to follow in the future.
With focus slowing shifting from just academics to the overall holistic development of the child, the demand for co-curricular learnings has also seen a sharp rise and today we see more people pursuing careers in co-curricular learnings. In addition to the above parents are also looking for ways and means through which they are able to get their children to digital detoxification – away to their mobile phones and television to a more active lifestyle which helps them with real-life problem solving and team spirit. Co-curriculum learnings have gone beyond side hobby or time pass (sic)! It has, in fact, become a viable means of earning and making a career. The statistic has shown us that all successful people in the world have at least one other passion that they follow be it music, dance, arts or sports.
However, there is a long way before co-curricular learnings are considered equivalent to a graduation or engineering degrees. Adding to this is a problem is a fact that there are no recognised bodies that are currently offering professional courses as such it is a chicken and egg situation.
Slowly by steadily, there are companies like imd1 who have understood the positive impact of co-curricular learnings and its importance in children’s overall development are offering unique franchise model and digitally driven turn-key solutions to democratize the coaching services with industry-driven recognition to their teachings. These companies are now collaborating to set up platforms that help children to pursue careers in music, dance, arts and sports as a career of their choice, where they are trained by experts and their skills are harnessed and sharpened from an early age. They have understood the huge gap of good trainers/coaches in all co-curriculum, the demand-supply gap and the opportunities.
These companies have not only recognised the need but are also working towards making co-curricular education accessible and affordable to all. India is on the verge of taking a big leap on co-curriculum front and it represents the big opportunity. This combined with various government initiatives, the uprising of middle-class, rapid urbanization is proving ultimate tail-wind for a career around co-curricular activities.