Leisure Activities : Different Stakeholders Voice Their Concerns 

Since November, most children and teens are in the grand summer school holidays. Besides relaxing at home, watching TV, playing with cousins and friends, going to the beach, we notice that there is a great dearth of leisure activities for our Mauritian youth. News on Sunday sheds light on the reasons behind and learn what could be done to reverse the trend.

The summer holidays are here and all students are enjoying their free time by doing various activities. However, besides usual things like watching TV, playing video games, going to the beach or hiking, playing some outdoor games, we notice that many children in Mauritius do not have access to all sorts of leisure activities. In fact, simple events such as going to the movies or a park, playing indoor football, bowling, riding horses, doing water activities and others are not so accessible. Why so and what should be done to provide sufficient leisure activities to our youth? News on Sunday talks to stakeholders.

According to the Minister of Youth and Sports, there are definitely sufficient leisure activities. “There are lots organised by the Ministry and other agencies. It is up to the youth to look for them,” says the Minister Stephan Toussaint. 

As for the price tags, the Minister underlines that as far as the Ministry of Youth and Sports is concerned, they are all free. “In addition, if the youths are aware of the benefits of leisure activities, they should do everything possible to indulge themselves in healthy activities. Hiking or social activities do not cost much.”

However, the Minister also agrees that some activities are definitely not accessible to all. “It is true that some are costly, but one should understand that the organising agencies have invested heavily with security measures and others,” states Fabien Hector. 

What is the Ministry doing to make leisure activities more accessible to the young Mauritian? “The Ministry has currently 28 Youth Centres scattered over Mauritius. During school vacation, flyers, posters and the website of the Ministry lists all the leisure activities,” explains Stephan Toussaint. 
The Minister of Youth and Sports trusts that leisure activities are important for our youth because “they help to disconnect from the routine, whether studies or work, to better resource themselves, with health benefits pertaining to mental and physical well-being during sports such as hiking. Psychologically, the youth feel happy and they experience an alternate to social evils like drugs, delinquency and so on; there are also social benefits as they meet other people from different communities, and historical benefits as they encounter new cultures and discover historical buildings.”

Varun Ancharaz, 14-years-old : “We should introduce some more novelties”

Varun trusts that leisure acts as a stress reliever and helps the youth to find balance in their lives. “Leisure activities in our tropical island include football, dancing, painting, meditating, water activities, horseback riding, trekking, hiking, golf and others. It can be deduced that there are more than enough leisure activities in Mauritius but people are so much engrossed in their daily lives that they don’t have the time to execute them. Thus people should find both time and means to integrate same in their busy schedule and encourage others to create such a balance.” He believes that Mauritius has not been lagging behind in promoting the importance of leisure but more should be done. “We should introduce some more novelties such as water parks and ice skating. Doing so will also improve our island’s economy,” he utters. 

Deepak Maunthrooa : “Our youngsters need to be curious and get involved”

According to Deepak Maunthrooa, Quality Assurance Officer at the Private Secondary Education Authority, leisure activities are constructive ways to manage time. “Our active and dynamic youngsters need such activities to keep themselves busy and to learn new things. Such endeavours act as a balance between hobbies and studies, a must in today’s society when many youngsters claim to be stressed with the curriculum imposed upon them by Cambridge exams or any other examining body.”

Are there sufficient leisure activities for our youth during the holidays? “Some use the ‘break’ obtained from holidays to get involved in events that they miss during the school term, others look for a part-time job while others just chill among friends and family members. In my opinion, there are sufficient leisure activities for our youths during the holidays; they just need to open their eyes and broaden their horizons to ‘catch’ the appropriate one for them,” he utters.

He trusts that “our youngsters need to be curious and get involved. Forming part of a Community Service group at locality level is in itself a reasonable leisure activity that helps to develop various competencies and skills in our youngsters.”

Deepak Maunthrooa agrees that some leisure activities are not accessible to everyone, due to financial or geographical limitations. “Golf, archery, and horse riding are some of those activities but today, they are being made more accessible through various open door activities at Club Hippique, Cavalia and so on.”

He, however, emphasises that doing nothing is a choice among some youngsters. “There are many youths who keep themselves busy and have fun during their holidays. They indulge into various activities at individual level as well as at group level. The onus lies upon them to get involved; join a youth club, become a member of the Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award Programme, join a Rotary Club, a Lions Club, the Pan Africa Youth Leadership Program or a Toastmasters Club.”

He trusts that it would be a good idea to encourage the youth towards activities such as drama, theatre, vocal music, instrumental music, agriculture and so on “for holistic development. More emphasis can be put on such activities during the holidays. The newly opened Caudan Arts Centre or the President’s Fund for Creative Writing are appropriate openings for such activities.”

Deevesh Ramphul, 17-years-old : “Activities should be more affordable”

The teen states that “leisure activities amongst youngsters are very basic: football, volleyball, badminton or even tennis. Despite the variety of activities proposed by the Government, the youth is still stuck. The reason is due to costs. Despite available activities such as snorkeling, quad biking and kite surfing, no great incentive has been taken to render such activities affordable and encourage people to try them out. The island is not necessarily in need of new recreational activities but rather the promotion of such activities so that they are available to all citizens.” 

Jason Tonkin : “Huge opportunities for youngsters to start developing robotic and coding skills”

“Humanity is advancing and we should take into consideration what activities youths should be engaging in. What is important to us as adults now may not be as important to youngsters in later 21st century. However, leisure activities are still the time youths get to know and understand themselves,” says Jason Tonkin. 

According to the Director of Think Steam, an education service provider specializing in the STEAM curriculum, youths should also be able to engage in activities that give them the feeling of success and confidence. “Leisure activities are the times where youths are able to experience life with few inhibitions and these experiences will affect them for the rest of their lives.”

Regarding whether there are sufficient or insufficient leisure activities for our youth, he trusts that “never before in the history of humanity have young people had greater choices of what they should or may want to do. Do all of them get exposure to all these opportunities? The answer is simply no. Why? Largely because the majority of children in Mauritius do not have access to the kind of opportunities that exist. Many are web-based. If you observe where 21-century skills development are located, technology and digital literacy are among the dominant factors.”

Jason Tonkin trusts that we should be focusing on “creating positive environments where youths can meet, interact with each other, develop their full potential in fun, creative ways.” He underlines that the traditional sports facilities are always good to have, but for Think STEAM, they regard what they do in robotics as a 21st-century sport. “More and more, robots are becoming a bigger part of our daily lives. It’s only natural that we’ll soon be watching them do battle in sports arenas and on TV. There is a huge opportunity for youngsters to start developing their robotic and coding skills, as a ‘leisure activity.’” 

He believes that there are creative ways to make some leisure activities more accessible. “People offering these Holiday Programmes are professionals.  The education system needs drastic transformation globally and has created an opportunity for private individuals to research what service they want to provide, do it well and thereby offering children great opportunities. Unfortunately, it costs a lot. There are creative ways to make it more accessible. However, in order to do this, one needs to adopt the 21st Century skill of ‘collaboration’, develop a trusting work relationship with others and share the load.” 

He opines that besides the traditional recreational leisure activities, room needs to be made quickly for all the fun, exciting opportunities that technology is going to provide us with. “All these activities will be influenced by technology. Every department of life will be affected by this technological era we are living in. 

We need to understand that children’s interests are going to change at a speed, scale and force unlike anything we have ever experienced before and they need to be prepared for the changes that are happening now. Yes, a wide variety of leisure activities should be made more available to our children with technology as an option. Children need to understand now, more than ever before, that they are ultimately responsible for their own education and by engaging in positive activities will ultimately benefit them in life.”