School trips are back after two-and-a-half years and the overwhelming response has forced at least two schools to announce a limit on the number of students they can take along.
Students of one school are just back from Manali in Himachal Pradesh, and those of another school are scheduled to return in a couple of days from a trip to Bangalore, Mysore and Ooty. Other schools have lined up trips in December.
The school trips are not just about leisure and fun. They provide an opportunity to train the children in important life skills, teachers said.
“It teaches students to step out of their comfort zone and coexist in a group, which is not necessarily of their choice but one decided by the teachers,” said Anjana Saha, principal of Mahadevi Birla World Academy.
Students of classes IX to XII of the school have just returned from a trip to Manali, which including trekking and climbing. “They stayed in tents and we asked them to eat food provided by us, instead of buying food. Food is a binder,” said Saha.
The trips also teach girls and boys to be responsible, self-reliant and more accepting, said teachers.
The schools could not organise any trip in the last two years because of Covid.
“When we announced a trip to Bangalore, Mysore and Ooty, we had a huge response and we decided to put a ceiling at 100 students. Beyond that is not a practical number,” said Loveleen Saigal, principal, Birla High School for Boys.
The boys, the principal said, spotted elephants, peacocks and some other animals at Bandipur National Park in Karnataka.
“The trip was for students from classes VI to IX,” said Saigal.
Mahadevi Birla World Academy took 193 students to Manali. Before the pandemic, only around 100 students would go on excursion.
“Twenty-two teachers accompanied the students. Still we had limit the application to keep the number of students below 200,” said vice-principal Nupur Ghosh, who accompanied the students.
Schools including The BSS School and Indus Valley World School have planned a trip in December. One of the trips Indus Valley World School is organising is to Bishnupur in Bankura. Both schools have planned a trip to Santiniketan.