FOR THE country’s 228 million school-going children, the imminent summer vacation offers numerous opportunities to explore, learn, read and absorb supplementary and experiential education, which is at best sporadic during school terms. It’s a good time for children to enrich their school curriculums by learning important life skills such as leadership, public speaking, conflict resolution, team work, creative writing or learning new languages, in addition to getting into shape by playing sports and trekking. For children from the country’s growing number of ambitious, upwardly mobile households, vacations are becoming too important to waste.

Research studies conducted in the last few decades clearly indicate that learning outcomes from programmes delivered in informal learning spaces stimulate the specialised interests of children and improve classroom grades in regular school. Consequently there is a virtual consensus among educationists that life skills (listening,writing, debating), co-curricular (music, theatre, art and dance) and extra-curricular (sports and physical activity) education are — and should be — integral components of the education experience of nexgen children.

In the US and OECD countries, several creative experiential learning programmes have been conceptualised, professionally designed and implemented. For instance, the US-based Envision EMI offers summer camps for elementary, middle, high school and college students in multiple locations across the country priced between $2,500-3,000 per programme.

One of Envision EMI’s best known programmes is the annual Global Young Leaders Conference (GYLC). Currently in its 28th year, GYLC is a premier leadership development course for high school students who can choose to attend any one of six sessions from June through August. Each session lasting 10 days is attended by 200-250 students from 145 countries. Through a highly intensive out-of-classroom learning experience and a rigorous curriculum, participants learn leadership skills, experience cultural diversity, group dynamics (competing and bonding with peers from different nationalities) and global competitiveness.

The programme culminates with a two-day session at the United Nations headquarters in New York where students simulate live sessions of the UN General Assembly. Thus far nearly 1,500 Indian students have participated in GYLC programmes ($2,825, excluding air fare).

Besides the leadership programme, Envision also offers a range of career programmes in collaboration with some of America’s top universities under which students visit their campuses to get a feel of their academic culture, facilities and ambience. For 12 days, students of medicine reside at the Johns Hopkins University, engineering students at UC Berkeley or Georgia Tech, law students may sojourn at Stanford Law School and business management students at Babson College or Stanford University. These summer programmes are particularly recommended for high school students aspiring for undergraduate education in the US. Envision’s summer programmes are priced at Rs.2-3 lakh (inclusive of airfare).

The New York-based Summer Discovery programmes run by Musiker Discovery Programs Inc provide month-long internship opportunities in 25 career choices for high school students chosen through telephonic interviews. In New York, they stay in the vacant dorms of New York University interning with a range of companies through the week. On weekends, they work on their pre-college credits. This 30-day program is priced at Rs.5 lakh (all-inclusive).

However for the great majority of households unable to afford expensive summer camps and programmes abroad, several Indian options have emerged in recent times. The Delhi-based Youreka with offices in Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore and iDiscoveri Pvt. Ltd run well- planned, safe and exciting programmes priced at Rs.5,000-7,000. However these are limited to two-three day camping and trekking excursions in the hills with optional inclusion of river rafting and bird watching.

The Delhi-based The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) has customised seven-day summer programmes for school children at the TERI University in New Delhi. It also offers college students opportunities through a week-long programme to study earth science, ecology and environmental challenges. Priced a mere Rs.1,500 this is a unique programme with both online and face to face components.

Regrettably in India, summer camps and programmes are routinely classified as ‘experiential and ancillary learning’.  Summer learning is an unregulated domain with asset-light business models comprising mostly unorganised and local players. As a result, there is lack of quality, creativity and innovation in programmes and no standardisation in service delivery.

Therefore, educators need to get involved and parents must be supportive. A worthwhile summer programme develops competencies and skills aligned with educational achievement which is necessary in an increasingly globalised and technology-driven world.

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