Foreign tours gaining popularity in schools… but funded by parents

Educationists from the city argue that the selection of the students should be purely on the basis of their competence and the trips should be subsidised either by the school or sponsored by the hosts of the tours.

Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) Counselor Madhu Bahl said,“I personally feel that if not all,most such trips are a marketing exercise and privately managed. The fact that the trips are to be sponsored totally by the parents makes it clear that selection is driven by the affordability of the parents and not by the child’s competence.”

“If the parents have to pay for the trip,I feel that they should be dealing with the travel agents directly. The school should only be a mediator in terms of guardianship,” added Bahl.

Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS) Additional Commissioner M S Chauhan observed,“When such a huge expenditure is involved,the question of affordability will always arise. Here,it becomes the responsibility of the state government,the school and the hosts of the event to support the students financially.”

Over the past year,local schools have been establishing tie-ups with schools in foreign countries for cultural exchange programmes. In May this year,a group of about 40 students each from Bhavan Vidyalaya and Dikshant International School,Zirakpur,were taken to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center,US.

At present,about 15 students from Vivek High School have gone to Singapore for photography training. Delhi Public School (DPS),Sector 40,and Dikshant School are planning a trip for students for an academic exchange programme to London in March next year.

Left out,those from not-so-well-off families suffer ‘inferiority complex’

Parents often find it difficult to handle the disappointment of their children. “My son wanted to go for a trip to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Kennedy Space Centre in the US which was organised by his school in May. Seeing his exuberance,I wanted to send him but was incapable of affording such a high fee. Till now,he is suffering from an inferiority complex because he could not make it to the trip,” rued Ramakant,father of Amit (name changed),a class IX student of Bhavan Vidyalaya,Sector 27. Ramakant runs a grocery store in Sector 30,Chandigarh.