After 2 years of starting the RTCs, students from our RTCs went on their first excursion to Yelagiri and Kaniyakumari.

RTC Student Excursion – Feb- Mar 2025

Over the past three years of operating our Rural Technology Centers (RTCs), our primary focus has been on teaching Computer Science. While this has yielded great results, bringing in joyful, holistic learning experiences hadn’t been a priority. However, many of the children attending the RTCs come from Asha-supported feeder schools, where they’ve had opportunities to go on excursions organized by Asha. Every time these children met volunteers like Mr. Rajaraman and Mr. Venkat, they would request a similar excursion for themselves.

In December 2024, we received funding through the Amazon Innovation Grant. As we chose to dedicate this grant primarily to our RTCs—where much of our curriculum innovation happens—we also decided to allocate a portion of it for an excursion exclusively for RTC students. We limited participation to students who had completed at least two terms at the center. We didn’t want the excursion to be the reason for children to join the RTCs and therefore added this restriction.

Unlike the school excursion where the responsibility for the children is shared with the government teachers from the schools, here the responsibility for the children lay entirely with Asha. We therefore personally spoke with every parent and obtained written consent for their child to join. We also invited a few responsible parents at each RTC to accompany us on this excursion.

The RTCs at Thiruvallur and Thoothukudi had students who met the eligibility criteria, and hence we organized the excursion for them.

Thiruvallur – Project Sangamam

Students from five of our RTCs in Thiruvallur participated in this excursion-

• RTC Seethanjeri

• RTC Kanakammachathram

• RTC Kannigaiper

• RTC Periyaplayam and

• RTC Thomur

A total of 130 students along with the RTC teachers travelled to Yelagiri on 1 March, 2025. For the RTC excursion, we arranged for three buses. The journey began at 3:15 a.m. on 1st March 2025, and the students returned home around early morning the next day. Breakfast parcels were arranged in advance from Kanagamma Chathram and were distributed to the students at Vaniyambadi en route to Yelagiri. Lunch was provided at a hotel near Fundera Park in Yelagiri. For dinner, some students dined at Sri Nagar near the Vellore Golden Temple, while others had their meal at a nearby hotel. During the trip, the group visited Fundera Park, Nature Park, and Aqua Fountain Park, and briefly viewed the Vellore Fort from the bus while passing by.

RTC Seethanjeri

RTC Kanakammachathram

RTC Kannigaiper

RTC Periyaplayam

RTC Thomur

Thoothukudi – Project Pearl

Students from our Project Peaal in Thoothukudi visited Kanyakumari. On 20 February, 2025, 50 students from the Kayathar RTC and 40 students from the Kalugumalai RTC went on an excursion to Kanyakumari. They visited Maatur Thottipalam, Kanyakumari beach and the Padmanadapuram palace.

RTC Kayathar