JOIN US4,550 lucky kids to have Jilla Darshana
Last year, 3,130 primary school students and 290 teachers visited various tourist spots in Dakshina Kannada under Chinnara Jilla Darshana programme.
Speaking to Deccan Herald, Sarva Shikshana Abhiyana Deputy Programme Co-ordinator Shivaprakash said the programme is an attempt to take the kids outside the classrooms and syllabus and travel to few of the prominent places in the district and to study the significance of the place.
The tour will not only give them an opportunity to learn, but also offer fun-filled moments. About 91 teams of students have been constituted. A team of 50 students from two or three schools in an area will be selected to participate in the tour. Teachers and SDMCs will decide the places of visit.
Schools can choose any tourist spots, historic monuments, important educational institutions, temples, churches, mosques and farm units. Children will have to make a note of all details about the place they visited and after the tour, they will be asked to write an essay on the tour.
He said that, of the 91 teams, about 31 teams are minority students and remaining 56 teams comprise of students from SC/ST and others. The government has released a sum of Rs 21,84,000 for the purpose. Each team will be given Rs 24,000. A sum of Rs 480 is spent on each child.
He said in Bantwal, 14 teams were constituted with 700 children and 70 teachers. However, about 803 students have visited the places of interest under the programme with the same amount sanctioned to the block. In Belthangady, 14 teams with 700 children were selected. However, about 748 children have taken part in the Chinnara Darshana programme.
In Mangalore (urban), 10 teams with 500 students were selected. However, three teams with 165 students and teachers have taken part in the Chinnara Jlla Darshana so far. With the teachers training in offing, the students could not be taken for the tour. However, all the teams will complete their tour programme by November 20.
In Mangalore (rural), 750 students and 70 teachers have toured the historical and other places. In Moodbidri— 12 teams with 600 students and 60 teachers took part while in Puttur—780 students and 70 teachers attended the programme. In Sullia—13 teams with 650 students and 60 teachers enjoyed the tour.
The major objective of the programme is to make children familiar with important places in the district. “Booklets with information on the place, which have been selected for the tour, will be distributed to children before the commencement of tour,” he said.
A booklet of Dakshina Kannada district covers information on 71 tourist spots of the district with photographs and route maps given to the students. Some of the tourist spots visited by the students are Sulthan Battery, St Aloysius Chapel, Kudroli temple, Pilikula zoo, Artisan Village, Arboretum, Ullal Dargha, Dharmasthala, Soans Farm, Alva’s Shobhavana, Thousand Pillar Basadi, Venur Bahubali and so on.
A team of differently abled children were also taken to different tourist spots under Chinnara Jilla Darshana programme. “In fact, we have asked the teachers to include one or two differenlty abled children in every team,” he informed.