Rural students get a taste of urban classroom

(Representative image)

For S Vimalraj, a class VIII student of a government school in rural Trichy, it was a dream come true on Thursday when he was able to see the Rock Fort temple in Trichy. Hailing from the rural part of Manachanallur in the district which is just 18 km away from city, this the first time in his lifetime he is visiting Trichy city.
His visit, along with few of his classmates and teachers from the Manachanallur panchayat union middle school, was launched by the district education department under the Sarva Siksha Abhiyan on Thursday in Trichy.
Under the exchange programme, students from rural areas
will visit corporation schools in the city and vice-versa, and spend a whole day with students there. A section of students from Senthaneerpuram School will visit Manachanallur School next week to get rural touch.
The programme would go on for six months. This year children from 22 schools from Trichy in the urban and rural areas are part of the programme.


S Shankar, another student of class 8 found the Senthaneerpuram School to be more spacious and bigger than his school.
"Students found the method of teaching more interesting," said D Saroja, English teacher who accompanied the students while adding that they did not "get bored during Tamil class unlike in our school." They students at the corporation school were more than eager to share their classroom with their rural conterparts.
The programme is designed beyond classroom teaching in an attempt to bring down the rural-urban divide, said chief education officer M Ramakrishnan.
"Not many children from the rural areas would have had the opportunity to visit the planetarium in Trichy city and seeing the airport. Apart from classroom teaching, students would also be taken to these places, which would be a different experience for them altogether. Similarly students from urban areas will be exposed to farming activities in rural areas and get to know the traditional history of our region," he said.

Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/trichy/rural-students-get-a-taste-of-urban-classroom/articleshow/61074898.cms