For many students whose parents cannot afford these activities, the chances offered by outside agencies are precious.
I have friends who have opted to home-school their children or send them to alternative schools with more open learning environments. They don't want their kids' creativity to be stifled by the oppressive education system — one that focuses on textbook memorisation and top-down authority.
Home-schooling and special schools are expensive, and homeschooling demands parents' total dedication. Only a few can afford to offer that.
What Obec considers extra-curricular activities are at the core of their programmes. The kids attend exhibitions, they visit local communities to learn about their problems and successes. They play music, they attend workshops, they draw, they cook, they plant trees, they write diaries, they think, they ask, they have fun — and that's how they learn and grow.
If anything, this latest Obec policy reveals how out of touch it is with modern students' needs. And how in denial it is of its own faults arising from policy centralisation.
Don't try and escape blame. Face the hard facts. Let local communities decide how they want to educate their children. Only then can the country get out of its education rut.