Effects of Joining Extracurricular Activities to the Academic Performance of General Academic Strand Students

Abstract

Extracurricular Activities are optional responsibilities where a student can be a part of. Extracurricular activities demand a lot of time. Students who joined the said activities need to sacrifice their free time, particularly with friends and family. They can also affect their academic performance. The researchers conducted this study to know the effects of joining extracurricular activities on the academic performance of the General Academic Strand (GAS) students at Bestlink College of the Philippines and to find solutions to address its negative effects. This research used descriptive research design in such a way that the survey questionnaire was administered to fifty (50) GAS students who were chosen through purposive sampling. The Survey Questionnaire was constructed to determine how extracurricular activities affect the students’ attendance, examination, class participation, and projects/assignments. The data collected were analyzed qualitatively. Many respondents agreed that joining extracurricular activities could affect their academic performance. Students stated that they experienced difficulties in managing their time, usually ending up not attending their classes, affecting their performances in their written work and activities. In class participation, students could not follow the discussion of their lesson that resulted in not participating and sometimes not listening at all. Those problems gave the teachers a reason to give a failing grade to the students. The results asked for solutions to address the effects of joining extracurricular activities on the academic performance of the students. The researchers concluded that these solutions could be proposed to address the problem: students must learn how to manage their time; they should also know their priority to prevent such problems; teachers should not let the non-performing students join an activity especially if they have failing grades.