INTRAMURAL AND EXTRAMURAL: MEANING, OBJECTIVES AND THEIR SIGNIFICANCE

 INTRAMURAL AND EXTRAMURAL: MEANING, OBJECTIVES AND THEIR SIGNIFICANCE

Meaning of Intramural

The word 'Intramural' is derived from the Latin words 'Intra' and 'Muralis', 'Intra' means 'within' and 'Muralis' means 'wall'. It means that the activities which are performed within the walls or within the campus of an institution

a school or an institution. No student of other schools can participate in these activities. In fact, intramural competition is one of the best means to motivate all the students of an institution for taking part in the games and sports. 'A game for each and each for a game' may be considered the motto of intramurals. There is no doubt that regular physical education programmes develop good habits, skills, knowledge and other social qualities in the students but the effective programmes of intramurals may enhance further development.

 Various competitions of sports and games such as at the levels of block, zone, district, state as well as at national are held every year for the students but all the students cannot participate in these competitions. It is usually seen that approximately 5 per cent students of a school are selected to participate in such competitions. Have we ever thought about the remaining percentage of students of a school? The intramural programmes can solve this problem because these programmes offer ample opportunities for voluntary participation and competition among the students in the same institution.

These activities are the most pleasurable as well as enjoyable for the students. They get maximum educational benefits from such competitions. So, a large number of students must be involved in a wide range of intramural activities.

Origin of Intramurals

It is well known that children have a tendency to play. It is an innate or inborn instinct in them. They used to take part in such activities within the walls of their school in the ancient period also during their leisure time. Probably, it was the beginning of intramurals. With the passage of time, these activities were developed in a systematic way and termed as intramurals. In the USA, the intramural of baseball was organised in 1864. 

After that in the beginning of the 20th century, some progressive physical education teachers showed interest in intramurals and they realised that through intramurals, physical education can be developed more extensively. In 1925, every high school started the mission to establish intramural department in the USA. As a result of such focus on developing intramurals, the programmes of physical education are not considered complete and successful if intramurals are not organised in every school or institution. 

But in India, we lag behind in this field. As a matter of fact, there are various reasons behind the failure of intramurals taking off in India. The foremost reason is the materialistic approach of most of the people involved. The maximum number of parents want their children to devote maximum time on studies. Such parents are not concerned with the physical and social development of their children. The second reason is the lack of good programmes of intramurals in schools. In fact, most of the schools do not show any interest in organising intramurals for each and every student. In fact, intramurals must

be organised even for less abled or differently abled students. In a democratic macity, they have equal rights to participate in such programmes. Only then can the real benefits of intramurals be achieved.

Significance of Intramurals

In simple term, intramural means, "A game for each and each for a game', 80, it can be said that intramural activities are significant for every student of each class of an institution. The following points can express the significance of

intramurals for students. 1. Intramurals are significant for physical, mental, emotional and social development of students.

2. These programmes also lay stress on moral and ethical values of students. 3. Intramurals are necessary for the development of health of children.

4. These programmes are also important to tone down the fighting instinet of children.

5. These programmes refresh the children and make them agile.

6. Intramurals provide maximum recreation to the students.

7. They provide ample opportunities to the students to participate in games and sports.

8. They are also essential for developing leadership qualities among the students.

Objectives of Intramurals

There are various objectives of intramurals which are described below.

1. To Provide Opportunity to Every Student to Participate in Games and Sports: To provide ample opportunities to every student in games and sports is one of the major objectives of intramurals. Generally, a few students are able to participate in zonal-level and district-level games and sports. So, mass participation of students from a school is impossible at such levels of competitions.

 But in intramurals each and every student can take part in games and sports. In fact, every student is free to participate in the games and sports of his/her choice. So, it can be said that providing ample opportunities to all the students to participate in games and sports is the major objective of intramurals.

2. To Develop Leadership Qualities Among Students: To develop the leadership qualities among students is another significant objective of intramurals. Intramural activities are helpful in developing leadership qualities among the students who participate in these activities. Although all the students do not become leaders, 

intramural activities help in developing leadership qualities among those students who have some innate qualities of leadership. Other students develop the qualities of followers which are equally important.

3. To Develop Cooperation: A person cannot succeed all by himself in the field of sports and games. In fact, cooperation is essential to achieve

an apex position in games and sports. We cannot think about winning. especially in team games if the players do not cooperate with each other Intramural activities help in developing cooperation among students.

4. To Provide Recreation: To provide recreation to the students is another vital objective of intramurals. In fact, intramural netivities provide a number of opportunities for recreation to the students. Students participate in intramural activities according to their interests. Hence, they get a lot of joy, fun and pleasure by participating in such intramural activities/competitions.

5. To Develop Feeling of Sportsmanship: To develop the feeling of sportsmanship is another vital objective of intramurals. Sportsmanship means to show respect and courtesy to opponents and officials. It also means to be humble in victory and gracious in defeat. The intramural competitions encourage such qualities among students who participate in such activities.

6. To Provide an Opportunity to Learn a Variety of Games and Skills: To provide the opportunity to learn a number of games, their fundamental skills, rules and regulations and impart technical and tactical knowledge is another important objective of intramurals. 

Though there is no doubt that regular programme of physical education provides the previously mentioned opportunity but intramural activities provide additional opportunity to be efficient in various games. In fact, students get a number of opportunities to participate in various types of games in intramurals.

7. To Provide an Opportunity to Get an Experience of Organising Competitions: To provide an opportunity to the students to get an experience in organising competitions is also an objective of intramurals.

 In intramural competitions, a number of committees are formed for their smooth organisation in which students are also involved directly or indirectly. So, by taking up these responsibilities, students also get an experience in organising games and sports.

8. To Identify Talented Sportspersons: This is also a significant objective of intramurals. It is a well-known fact that every nation of the world wants to win medals at international level such as World Cup and Olympics.

 It is easier said than done. In the previous century, the Germans adopted 'catch them young' technique. Intramural competitions aid to identify the talented sportspersons due to participation of all the students in such competitions.

9. To Provide an Opportunity to Develop Personality: Providing an opportunity to students to develop their personality is another objective of intramural activities. These activities provide a number of opportunities that help develop physical, mental, social and emotional aspects of personality 

Activities for Intramural Competition

There are a number of activities which may be included in intramural competitions. The activities for intramurals should be selected very carefully Mainly, the selection of activities should be based on two factors viz, interests of students and availability of facilities in the institution or school. 

Along with these, we should not forget the recreational aspect of intramurals. All the intramural activities must provide recreation to the students. These activities should aid in achieving the goals of education and contribute to general development of the students. Hence, the selection should be made out of the following categories of activities:

1. Major Games: Volleyball, Hockey, Cricket, Basketball, Kabaddi, Swimming, Athletics, Cycling, Wrestling. Lawn tennis, Football, Softball, Badminton, etc.

2. Minor Games: Shuttle Runs, Kho-Kho, Circle games, Tag game, Roller skating, Potato Race, Sack Race, Three-Legged Race, etc.

3. Rhythmics: Lazium. Dumb bell, Marching. Folk dance, Group dance, Solo dance, Mass PT, Rhythmic gymnastic, etc.

4. Creative Activities: Painting, Drawing, Sculpturing. Making models.

5. Combative Activities: Boxing, Judo, Taekwondo, Karate, etc.

Meaning of Extramural

The word 'Extramural' is derived from the Latin words 'Extra' and 'Muralis', 'Extra' means 'outside' and 'Muralis' means 'wall'. It means that the activities, which are performed outside the walls of an institution or a school.

 It points towards the activities that are organised by an institution/school and also the students of two or more schools participate in them. In fact, in extramural competitions, the students of other schools also participate in sports-related activities. Extramural competitions are also called inter-school competitions. Extramurals are fixed well in advance so that the students of other schools may

prepare well for such competitions. Significance of Extramural Competitions

Extramural competitions are significant in the field of physical education because without extramural competitions, the programmes of physical education remain incomplete. 

The following points show the significance of extramural competitions.

1. Provide Opportunities to Schools to Show their Sports Capabilities: Extramural competitions provide ample opportunities to

schools to showcase their sports capabilities. If the students of a school

have good sports capabilities and show good performance in extramurals, it will add a feather to the cap of that institution. This will enhance the image of that institution

Especially the losing individual or team can make strenuous efforts to improve their sports performance in the next extramural competition.

3. Provide Appropriate Knowledge of Sports Techniques: Extramurals are essential to provide appropriate knowledge of new techniques of sports.

 The teams that are not familiar with the appropriate as well as advanced techniques of various sports and games, can imbibe such knowledge by participating in extramurals.

4. Plan and Implement the Programmes of Physical Education More Effective: Extramurals are essential for planning and implementing the programmes of physical education more effective. Extramurals also help in broadening the base of sports.

5. Improve the Opportunities to Participate in Sports: Extramural competitions provide opportunities to the students of various schools to participate in sports. Many schools that usually do not take part in such competitions are motivated and consequently such schools tend to participate in extramurals.

Objectives of Extramurals

1. To Improve the Standard of Sports: It is one of the objectives of inter- school or extramural competitions to improve the standard of sports. By participating in extramurals, the students become technically and tactically efficient in respective sports. 

They become skillful. They develop abilities to perform well in competitions. In this way, extramurals improve the standard of sports.

2. To Provide Enriching Experience to Students: Experience has its own value in any field. Extramurals provide experience to students who participate in such competitions. By gaining experience through continuous participation, students exhibit good performance in competitions.

3. To Develop Sportsmanship and a Feeling of Fraternity: To develop sportsmanship and a feeling of fraternity in students is another important objective of extramural competitions.

4. To Broaden the Base of Sports: Many students from various schools participate in extramurals. Other schools, that do not participate in extramurals, get motivated to do so. Such motivation broadens the base of sports.

5. To Provide Knowledge of New Rules and Advanced Techniques: To provide knowledge of new rules, regulations, advanced techniques and tactics of sports and games to the students is another objective of extramurals. Students come to know about new rules and regulations of the games and sports. 

They learn new techniques as well as tactics which enable them to perform efficiently and thus helps in improving their performance