KOCHI: It is the most memorable event in school life. School tour is something that every child looks forward to, not without anxious moments though. Students are left worrying about convincing parents who weigh the pros and cons and also their purse before giving the nod.
As for teachers they have to spend extra hours to chart out the itinerary. Not any more. Many schools in the city are coordinating with tour operators to make their trips smooth and more memorable.
“Yes, tour operators do facilitate our trips. They book the tickets, organise our food and accommodation and other activities,” says Lakshmi Ramachandran, dean of Global Public School.
The advantage is that teachers can pursue their work in school without diverting their time on organising tours. Moreover, during the trip, teachers are spared of the trouble of taking care of other things besides the students. It’s two years since the Global Public school has been making use of tour operators for excursions.
Though junior students have made trips to interesting places in other states, the seniors that is the Plus-One and Plus-Two students have left for Malaysia on Friday.
“We take care of the safety aspect and see that there is one teacher to look after 10 students,” said Lakshmi.
As excursions are the most fun-filled learning experience, schools are trying their best to see that students get to learn a lot thorough this.
The Chinmaya Vidyalaya also has resorted to tour operators to make their school tours more exciting. “Only Class X students get to go for long tours, the rest of the classes make a one-day trip to Veegaland taking the safety aspect into account.
The topic is thrown to the students who discuss it with their parents and suggest names of hotels, tour operators who might be among the parents or known to them,” said Maya Mohan, principal of the school. The Choice School in Tripunithura has been coordinating with tour operators for about six years. “This frees us from a lot of background work and teachers need not spend time on organising tours.
The professional touch makes the trip smooth and interesting. We see that entertaining activities are included in the package,” said Molly Cyril, principal of the school. Camp fire is something common in all the packages. The Choice School organises one-day trips for Classes IV, VI, VIII and X while Classes V, VII, IX, and XI go on long trips. “Last year a few students of Class IX and above went to Singapore and it was a big hit. Choice plans to organise mores such trips,” she said.
Tour operators on their part market interesting packages for schools. “We have been helping organise tours for many schools in Kochi for the past three to four years. We’ve been taking students to Bangalore, Mysore, Hyderabad, Ooty and Delhi and help them experience the essence of the land they visit.
From the time we pick them from school till they are dropped back we take care of all their needs.
So far we have not taken any outbound tours for students but hope to do it next year,” says Jacob Mathew of Insight Tours and Travels (P) Ltd.