Govt schools hold summer camps to boost admissions

Mangaluru: At least 10 government schools out of nearly 200 primary and high schools in Puttur taluk in Dakshina Kannada have organised summer camps in a bid to increase admissions for the next academic year.
Puttur block education officer (BEO) Lokesh C said: “In the last few months, we organised a series of meetings to motivate teachers to organise the camps.This is an attempt to show that government schools are not lagging in quality and we encourage students to join government schools. As resources are limited, we decided to first train interested teachers under the Desi Vaibhava programme. A booklet in this regard was released last year.”
About 40 teachers from various schools in the taluk have been trained to take up these camps under the programme Desi Vaibhava — productive learning through the traditional spirit.
The camps, being held from April 1-10, will focus on skill development. It is up to school heads to decide on the duration of the camps.
The BEO said: “We wanted to implement a skill development programme during this academic year. However, because of the pandemic, it did not happen. From an approximate 240 working days a year, we had only about 150 working days. Hence, through the camp, we hope to introduce the children to simple topics like the preparation of local and traditional delicacies, painting, farming, pottery, livestock breeding, folk dance, agriculture-based celebrations, traditional sports, festivals, folk games, environment conservation and so on. A few schools have organised drama and folk art fests. We are trying to bring in local experts,” he said.
Rashmitha Jain, the headmistress in charge of the Government Higher Primary School in Punchappady, said preparations are on to organise Kanasina Kalike, a four-day summer camp from Thursday. Students and staff are involved in uniquely decorating the school.”