Student Excursion – Jan-Mar 2023

by Rajaraman Krishnan (Volunteer Asha Chennai)

Asha Chennai organized multiple excursions for students from schools supported by Amazon. These excursions were organized at Sangamam, Thulasi and Pearl project areas.

Here are the photos taken all these excursions. Here are some general details of the excursions followed by details of the 8 independent excursions that were organized.

General Details

Which Areas? We organized the excursion in all the geographical areas that we supported. At Chennai, Guduvanchery area, the schools weren’t willing/able to get the necessary permissions to organize them. We organized them at Thiruvallur, Thoothukudi/Thirunelveli and Thiruvannamalai district schools.

How Many? The limit on the number of excursions organized was not mainly funds. If we take more than 2 or 3 buses full of children, managing them was difficult. Therefore in a weekend, at one location, we organized excursion for 2 or 3 buses full of children. Each excursion meant a lot of effort on the part of the coordinators and volunteers. This also limited the number. We organized in total 8 excursions with 21 buses for a total of about 1160 children and 135 teachers from 45 schools.

Which Schools? The excursion needed to be at least legally organized by the school authorities with Asha/Amazon funding the same. We couldn’t take children from schools that were unwilling to take up that responsibility. We mainly covered schools supported by Amazon. In some areas neighbouring schools that were supported directly by Asha was also taken for the excursion.

Which Students? All the 4^th and 5^th std students were taken for the excursion. Even in the past we have organized the excursion mainly for 4^th and 5^th std students. Most of our schools are primary schools. Class 1 to 3 children are too young to manage or to even remember and enjoy the excursion. In all the schools (esp. Thiruvallur) significant number of students did not come to the excursion mainly because they were suffering from cold/fever. Various flus were sweeping through the district in that period.

What was provided? We provided snacks or breakfast in the morning and snacks or dinner evening. Proper lunch was provided in the afternoon. We paid for the buses and all the tickets. No money was ever collected from any of the children. Drinking water was also provided in the buses.

Here are the details of each excursion.

Thiruvallur Poondi Block Schools – 28^th January

S.NO	Schools Name	4 Std		5 Std		Total	Teachers
		Boys	Girls	Boys	Girls
1	PUPS.Kuppammal Chathiram	11	10	11	10	42	4
2	PUPS.Old Thirupatchur	3	5	14	5	27	3
3	PUPS.Kosavanpalayam	10	15	10	10	45	3
4	PUPS. Pattarai Perumbudur	10	14	11	12	47	4
	Total	34	44	46	37	161	14

The actual number of students who came for the excursion was only about 140.

We took the children to Dakshina Chitra, Crocodile Bank (where the lunch was also organized) and Mahabalipuram. The children saw the various houses and shows at Dakshinachitra till 1:00. Then they went to the Crocodile bank and had lunch there. Our caterer delivered it there. It also included an icecream that the children enjoyed. After seeing the Crocodile bank till about 2:45, they left for Mahabalipuram.

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As they couldn’t do justice to all the three places, we decided to change the future excursions to just Vandalur Zoo and Mahabalipuram.

Thiruvallur Poondi Block Schools – 5th February

S.NO	Schools Name	4 Std		5 Std		Total	Teachers
		Boys	Girls	Boys	Girls
1	PUMS.Ramancheri	11	11	9	3	34	4
2	PUPS.Thomur	3	4	14	10	31	4
3	PUPS.Gandhigramam	3	3	5	2	13	2
4	PUMS.Manjakuppam	4	9	4	7	24	3
5	PUPS Varathapuram	3	2	2	4	11	2
6	PUPS Ellappanadiupattai	2	3	2	5	12	2
7	PUMS.Odathapai	5	6	4	3	18	3
8	PUPS.Sadhurangapettai		5	3	8	16	4
9	PUPS Narayanapuram	3	7	2	9	21	2
	TOTAL	37	51	47	54	180	26

We planned for more children but the numbers once again dropped to about 165 children. This time we took the children to Vandalur zoo in the morning. They had lunch there itself and then they went to Mahabalipuram. This time they got to see Mahabalipuram properly and saw the 5 Rathas, the Arjuna’s Penance and the Shore Temple. They also got to spend time at the beach.

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Thiruvallur Poondi Block Schools – 12^th February

S.NO	Schools Name	4 Std			5 Std			Total		Teachers
		Boys	Girls	Boys		Girls
1	PUPS Allikuzhi	7	14	11		11	43		2
2	PUPS Placepalayam	6	5	0		6	17		2
3	PUPS Ammambakkam	3	3	7		6	19		4
4	PUPS Gengulukandigai	1	1	0		2	4		2
5	PUPS Rajapalayam	2	2	2		5	11		2
6	PUPS Goonipalayam	7	1	2		4	14		2
7	PUPS Katchur	8	10	10		9	37		3
8	PUPS Sriramakuppam	6	3	1		7	17		2
9	PUPS Perittuvakkam	4	3	4		3	14		2
10	PUPS Nandhimanagalam	1	8	1		6	16		2
	Total	45	50	38		59	192		23

Here too the number of children dropped to about 165. The children enjoyed Vandalur zoo and Mahabalipuram. The 3 buses went to the different schools and picked up the children from 6:30 am to 7:30 am and reached Vandalur zoo around 9:15 am. There they were given their morning snacks and then a group photo was taken. In the evening the children were given their evening snacks and boarded the buses. The buses left Mahabalipuram around 6:30 pm and reached the various villages between 8:30 and 9:30 pm. The snacks comprised of a packet of biscuits and a tetrapack juice.

 

 

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Thiruvallur Ellapuram Block Schools – 19^th February

S.NO	Schools Name	4 Std		5 Std		Total	Teachers
		Boys	Girls	Boys	Girls
1	PUPS.Athivakkam	12	7	11	13	43	4
2	PUPS.Kannigaipair	8	12	13	17	50	4
3	PUPS.Anna Nagar	9	8	13	12	42	4
4	PUPS.Thandalam	20	6	15	9	50	4
	Total	49	33	52	51	185	16

In these schools the final tally of children was about 150. Here too the children went to Vandalur Zoo and Mahabalipuram. The HMs at these schools had arranged for breakfast for the children at their own expense. The children got the biscuit and juice that Asha organized as well as the breakfast organized by the HMs. The play area at Vandalur zoo is always as big an attraction for the children as any of the animals.

 

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Thiruvallur Ellapuram Block Schools – 11^th March

Here we took children from just 3 schools in 2 buses for the excursion.

S.NO	Schools Name	4 Std		5 Std		Total	Teachers
		Boys	Girls	Boys	Girls
1	PUPS.Guruvoyal	18	8	10	19	55	4
2	PUPS.Arkkampat	5	4	10	11	30	4
3	PUPS Poochiatheped	15	7	10	13	45	4
	Total	38	19	30	43	130	12

This was the last excursion organized at Thiruvallur. Here too the actual number of children was 115. The children were once again taken to Vandalur zoo and Mahabalipuram.

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Thiruvannamalai Kilpennathur Block Schools – 18^th February

At our Thulasi project, we organized 1 excursion for children from 7 of the schools. Here is the list.

S.NO	Schools Name	4 Std		5 Std		Total	Teachers
		Boys	Girls	Boys	Girls
1	PUPS M.Kattukulam	5	2	3	6	16	2
2	PUPS Salakuppam	5	3	6	7	21	2
3	PUPS Kaniyampoondi	3	0	4	4	11	2
4	PUPS Ponnankulam	7	4	5	3	19	1
5	PUPS Karikalambadi	0	0	18	8	26	2
6	PUPS Kolathur	12	12	21	19	64	5
7	PUPS Vedanatham	15	12	15	16	58	4

Here too the actual number of children that actually came for the excursion was 186. The children came in 3 buses. The excursion was organized for Vedanthangal and Mahabalipuram. The children were provided lunch and dinner at Mahabalipuram. Children got to see the migratory birds at Vedanthangal and then they saw the usual sights at Mahabalipuram.

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Thoothukudi/Thirunelveli Schools – 25^th February

We took children from 4 schools to Kanniyakumari in 2 buses.

SNo	School	Total 4th/ 5th Students	Excursion Students	Teachers & Parents
1	PUMS Nagalapuram	14+17 =31	28	4
2	PUMS Karadikulam	14+21=35	32	3
3	PUPS Koovachipatti	24+27=51	44	4
4	PUPS Salaiputhur	7+5=12	12	3
	Total	129	116	14

All the children had a nice visit of Kanniyakumari. They left very early from their villages to see sunrise at Kanniyakumari. Breakfast was arranged for them by Asha. They visited all the major sites in Kanniyakumari including Gandhi Mandapam, Vivekanandar Rock, Thiruvalluvar statue etc. They also stayed till sunset to see that. Lunch and dinner were also arranged by Asha for the children.

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Thoothukudi/Thirunelveli Schools – 13^th March

We initially planned to have only one excursion at our Pearl project. As we couldn’t arrange an excursion at our supported schools in Chennai/Guduvanchery area, and we had funds balance, we decided to take children from 4 more schools for excursion. This time we took to see both Padmanabhapuram palace and Kanniyakumari in 2 buses.

SNo	School	Total 4th/ 5th Students	Excursion Students	Teachers & Parents
1	Pups Vannikonethal	27+32 =59	58	6
2	Pums Panniruthu	14+9=29	27	4
3	Pups Thulukkarpatti	8+7=15	15	2
4	Pups Sambakulam	11+14=25	25	2
	Total	128	125	23

This time they had to miss the sunrise at Kanniyakumari but instead they got to see the beautiful Travancore kingdom’s palace at Padmanabhapuram and then came to Kanniyakumari at around noon time. They were able to see the rest of the things there. Like the previous excursion, Asha arranged breakfast, lunch and dinner for the children.

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In Conclusion

The excursions were greatly enjoyed by all the children. I personally attended three of the excursions organized in Thiruvallur. The children had for most part not seen any of these places. In the case of many of these places, they have read about them in their textbook or seen them on TV. Seeing these live was a great experience for them. In many schools they had the children write small essays about these places that they visited. I still meet children in 9^th or 10^th std who fondly recollect the excursion that we had taken them to some 5 years earlier.

Education is not just about the academics but also about broadening the vision of the children on what is out there. Excursions provide this in one way. It was very satisfying that through the support of Amazon we could bring this joy to so many children in so many schools across so many geographies where we work.