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Children need a wholesome and healthy recreation during summer holidays. Camping is an excellent form of informal education and keeps the children gainfully and usefully occupied
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VACATION BRINGS in lot of cheers for children. If it is a summer vacation, their ecstasy knows no bounds, for, after a hard grind of academics, they feel free from the clutches of exams.
But for parents, it will be a hard task, as they have to monitor their kids keenly, for there is every chance of their children contracting `summerdiseases'. And for these parents, who want their children to spend time under protective care and also usefully, summer camps have come as a blessing in disguise.
Earlier, these camps concentrated on sports and games, but now the situation is totally different with so many institutions coming up offering various short-term computer courses and spoken English classes to improve skills of the children.
"Children need a wholesome and healthy recreation during summer holidays. Camping is an excellent form of informal education and keeps the children gainfully and usefully occupied. Besides, camping also uniquely develops the mental, physical, spiritual and social growth through meaningful and relevant programmes," said Michael Chatelier, correspondent, Le Chatelier Matriculation Higher Secondary School, who is organising different camps ranging from music and dance to cricket and badminton in association with the Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu (Madurai unit).
The sports camps vary from indoor games such as chess, badminton to the outdoor sports such as athletics, cricket, whereas, computer courses start on basic computer operations including DTP and other basic operations. Scores of swimming camps are also conducted.
"The parents are very choosy about the camps and most of the time they decide according to the will of their kids, which is sure a welcome sign. Besides conventional camps like cricket, chess, etc., we have also introduced skating and music at our camps which have received good appreciation. At present we have received 100 entries in all disciplines. Moreover, we have also planned to organise a trekking camp in Kodaikanal. The disappointing factor is there are no takers for the table tennis camp, " said Mr.Michael.
If these camps cater to the needs of the privileged kids, as organisers of these camps demand a fee ranging from Rs.100 to Rs.500, for the less fortunate kids, the `Kodai Vasantham-2003', organised by the Don Bosco ITI, has come as a welcome relief.
`Cool' learning
"We just wanted to provide same kind of opportunity for the under-privileged children living in these areas. Here we conduct English and mathematics classes, besides music," said Fr. Poppuraj, camp director.
The Le Chatelier MHSS is once again the sponsors of the `Kodai Vasantham' camp. "The fee collected from our camps is diverted to the camp run by the Don Bosco for the less fortunate kids," said Michael.
"We are able to motivate the students, as the interest shown by the campers proves. We too encourage the campers, distributing prizes," says Sarath, coordinator, Le Chatelier MHSS, who teaches English at the camp.
These camps, have time and again, proved that the scorching summer is no restraint and in fact can be made useful
T. SARAVANAN
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Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Coimbatore
Delhi
Hyderabad
Kochi
Madurai
Thiruvananthapuram
Visakhapatnam
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