Summer camps for students of Ashram Shalas

For students of the 23 Ashram Shalas — residential schools for tribal students — under the Integrated Tribal Development Project (ITDP), Ghodegaon, there is no summer vacation this year. More than 500 children studying in Class X or XII of these schools are now busy completing their syllabus by June in a special summer camp, organised in Pune district’s Ambegaon taluka.

Ayush Prasad, project director of the ITDP, Ghodegaon, said this special residential school was organised to help students improve their academic skills before they appear for the board exams. “We have tried to create a special environment for the students, which will propel them to take academics more seriously,” he said. The aim of the special camp is to finish the syllabus before June, which will leave rest of the academic year for revisions.

This is the first time such camps are conducted for the students in Ashram Shalas. Teachers with more than 20 years of experience have been asked to conduct the classes. Like last year, the students have been issued special question banks. Subjects like English, Mathematics, Science for Class X, and subjects such as Physics, Chemistry, Biology, English, Economics etc for Class XII, will be taught to the students.

Prasad said there was initial resistance from the parents about the special summer camps as these months coincide with the marriage season. “Students who dropped out were persuaded to come back to the camp,” he said.
Schools under the ITDP Ghodegaon have been reporting around 97 per cent passing, with students obtaining as high as 80 percentile in their board examinations. “The question is not just not about passing but bringing them at par with the standards of the outside world,” he said.

Last year, the ITDP Ghodegaon had conducted a similar special camp for toppers. Another objective behind the camp is to allow students from various parts of the region to meet each other and exchange ideas. Other than academics, attention is also paid to their overall development.
News Source (Indian Express)