CAS for our secondary school students   

by Anton Peiris
B.Sc. (Ceylon), PGCE (Kenya), M.Sc. (London ), DAES (York). Emeritus Coordinator, International
Baccalaureate, Switzerland.

 (Reduce O/L STRESS (continued): The package of 7 subjects plus computer skills plus CAS is designed to impart an all-round education.)

CAS was introduced to 10 schools in Europe, the UK and North America by the International Baccalaureate Organisation in 1970.  By 2010 it had spread to more than 5,000 Secondary and High schools worldwide. Now it is Sri Lanka’s turn to introduce it. CAS should be compulsory for all Senior Secondary students (i. e. Grades 10 – 12).

It is something that is done outside school hours.

C = CREATIVITY : 

That is, learning to play a musical instrument or taking lessons in oriental dancing or Art or Music or taking part in a theatre production or singing in a choir or doing Painting or Sculpture or pursuing a Hobby like stamp collection or carpentry or metal work or motor mechanism or photography or aeromodelling or playing chess or bridge or poker, etc.

A = ACTIVITY: 

Playing cricket or football or basketball or badminton or tennis or netball or volleyball or hockey or swimming or athletics or any other sporting activity.

S = SERVICE  : 

For example, giving Tuition in English or Mathematics to a weak student from a poor family or to a handicapped child for free ( no fees charged ) for 45 minutes during a weekend or baking a cake to sell the cake slices at a fundraising event for a worthy cause or visiting an orphanage occasionally and playing a musical instrument to entertain the poor orphans or taking a handicapped person (in a wheelchair) to the cinema, or visiting a handicapped or old or retired  person or couple living alone and reading a short story to them or informing them of the local / international news items once a month, etc. That is, to undertake a project that often involves community service. 

It is not necessary to do a Service activity every week. The aim should be to do it at least three times during the year.

The students playing for the school cricket team or any other sports team have already fulfilled their Activity component of CAS. Similarly, the students who are members of the school band or dramatic society have already fulfilled their Creativity component. If a group of students take part in a particular community service project, then all the members of the group have fulfilled their Service component. 

Some students take part in Service projects in their Temple or Church. These also count as Service activities for CAS.  

It is the duty of the teachers to provide the students with some guidance on the choice of suitable Service projects. CAS should be an enjoyable experience for the students.

CAS should be monitored by the school for each student. Each school should appoint at least one CAS Coordinator, i.e. a competent teacher. He/she should not be a full-time teacher because it is a post of responsibility requiring many hours of work per week both inside and outside the school hours. A CAS Coordinator should be paid a salary equivalent to that of a Deputy School Principal. 

The CAS Coordinator must ensure that, at the end of Grade 11, every student has worked on Creativity, Activity and Service for at least one year.

There is a school in Sri Lanka that has a strong CAS programme for A / L (IB) students: The Overseas School of Colombo in Battaramulla. The senior officers of the Ministry of Education should visit this school and meet the CAS Coordinator.   

About 35 years ago, a teacher in the Overseas School of Colombo discovered that a village school, a few kilometres away from Battaramulla, had only a well and no tap water and there was no pipe borne water nearby. A CAS project was organised to provide the school with a water pump, a water tower and tank. To raise the required money, the students organised bake sales, staged a theatre production, donated part of their pocket money and solicited donations from parents and their employers.

A parent who was a civil engineer drafted the plans and a group of Advanced Level (IB) students spent a few hours during their weekends mixing cement, bricklaying, etc., (all under expert supervision ). Senior students in the village school also took part in the manual work. The project was completed and the school had tap water in the school premises. The grateful village headmaster brought the OSC students and their CAS Coordinator in Perahara with drummers and Kandyan dancers for the opening ceremony. 

Those OSC students (most of them foreigners) not only fulfilled the Creativity and Service components of their CAS requirement but also acquired an ‘awareness of a common humanity and social responsibility ‘.

CAS will provide our students with the joys of childhood and school life that they have missed and also equip them with qualities like empathy and love of neighbour. 

Long live CAS! 

(To be continued.

Next instalment: A solution to the problem of extra heavy School Bags. The writer has taught O/L, A/L and IB mathematics and physics for 45 years in Sri Lanka, Kenya and Switzerland.)