Isha Outreach Conducts Residential Summer Camp
Over 100 children from 7 Government schools participated in an annual residential summer camp organized by Isha Outreach from 30th April to 2nd May.
Over 100 children from 7 Government schools participated in an annual residential summer camp organized by Isha Outreach from 30th April to 2nd May. The camp was held at the Isha Vidhya School, Coimbatore. Activities included Arts, Crafts, Yoga, Chess, cultural activities, and programs that helped the children come in touch with nature. The camp is a part of Isha Outreach’s Government School Adoption Program (GSAP), and was intended to help children explore their latent skills and talents, and to provide them with an opportunity to come together and live in peer groups, helping in the development of their social skills.
The resource leaders and trainers, who conducted several sessions covering a variety of activities, included Mr. ASD Arularasan, Lecturer, Govt. Fine Arts College, Kumbakonam; Mr. D Sathish, internationally rated chess player, Tirupur; Mr. GE Boopathy, Isha Yoga teacher, Coimbatore; Swami Nagaroopa, Project GreenHands co-ordinator, Coimbatore; Ms. S Gayathri, Isha volunteer (Embroidery, Gift Cards and Toy-making); and some volunteers from Isha Craft who gave the children an introduction to tailoring.
These summer camps, conducted every year during the summer holidays, are an important component of Isha’s GSAP. The camps help children develop vocational skills and explore their talents and interests beyond the existing school curriculum.
The GSAP is an initiative of Isha Outreach. Having made pioneering advances in rural education through Isha Vidhya, Isha Foundation has adopted 31 Government schools in Dharmapuri, Salem and Coimbatore districts in Tamil Nadu. Isha Foundation seeks to improve the quality of education in these schools, which will benefit about 28,000 students.
Editor’s Note: The organizers of the camp would like to thank the staff and administration of the Isha Vidhya School, Coimbatore for providing the venue for the event, the volunteers at the Isha Yoga Center for offering food throughout the camp duration, and Shine Trust, Erode for help in procuring arts & crafts material for the children.
