Summer camps in govt schools to foster creative thinking

Lucknow: Transforming the summer break into a valuable learning experience for children, the secondary education department has organised special summer camps in govt schools from May 21 to June 10.

Aimed at developing creative thinking and life skills in students, these camps will be held for the first time and will run for three hours every day. The department has planned day-wise activities over these 20 days, with 30 minutes of yoga and exercise compulsory each day.

The summer camp will feature literary, cultural, and sports activities, including football, volleyball, rangoli making, career guidance sessions, legged races, computer literacy, sessions on cyber security, paper mache art, kitchen gardening, cookery, dramatics, dance, singing, and more. The department has constituted a seven-member committee headed by the district magistrate, with the district inspector of schools (DIOS) as the member-secretary, to organise and monitor the summer camps. This district-level committee will review the progress of activities every Friday.

According to the directives issued by the Director General of School Education (DGSE), Kanchan Verma, school principals and education officials should arrange funds through CSR for the effective implementation of summer camp activities in schools. Principals have been asked to conduct meetings with the School Management and Development Committee (SMDC) and teachers to prepare an action plan by May 13. All principals must be present on all days during the summer camp. Verma has asked principals to document the summer camp activities in the form of photographs and videos and make them available to the office of the DIOS on a daily basis.

The directives further stated that if the number of students attending the summer camp is less than 100, then one teacher, along with the principal, must stay in the school. If the number of students exceeds 100, then two teachers will remain in school. Verma has asked the district coordinators to supervise the activities of the summer camp in at least 50 secondary schools, while the DIOS will carry out surprise inspections in a minimum of 25 secondary schools.