Vidya Iyengar & Aishhwariya Subramanian l BangaloreThe shocking incident of 12-year-old Shabreen Taj losing her life by drowning in a 2-foot deep pool during a school picnic at Wonder La, has thrown up a question among the academic circles: Are school trips that involve all-fun-no-academic picnics turning out to be dangerous.

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For one, Shabreen’s death comes just over three months after a nine-year-old boy, H Tejas, drowned at a resort in Nelamangala.

DNA learnt that a sizeable number of schools in Bangalore annually take their children to resorts and water amusement parks which have no semblance of academic content. “When they return, they have nothing more to tell us other than how they played in a pool and what other kids did. They have nothing at all to tell us about what they learnt on the picnic,” laments Sumalatha Rao, a mother of a Class 8 student in a city school.

This brings into focus a marked shift in picnic trends of school: they no longer take schoolchildren to places where they can come back having learnt something new.

Gone, it appears, are the days when schools took children to places like Lalbagh Botanical Garden (for its botanical beauties), Bannerghatta National Park (for its varied wildlife in the sanctuary), Visvesvarayya Industrial & Technological Museum (for its interesting scientific exhibits), HAL Heritage Museum (for some knowledge about aviation in India) or even Nandi Hills or some historical places (for some credible knowledge of state’s history).

School teachers, academicians and parents are of the opinion that trips to water amusement parks and resorts have a no-brainer approach about them. Moreover, besides being devoid of any academic value-addition, they prove to be risky because, often, the teacher-student ratio on such trips is more than a safe 1:10 even as children let their hair down and “go crazy” with the sudden freedom given to them. (DNA has learnt that the teacher-student ratio of Matha English High School during its 140-student picnic to WonderLa – when Shabreen Taj drowned – was a whopping 1:20.)

B Gayathri Devi, principal, Little Flower Public School, feels that resorts and amusement parks are “meaningless”. “This is a trend that has started quite a while ago. What is the meaning of a welcome drink at a resort? How will they (the children) learn anything?,” she says. “There are a lot of options in places. It’s for the history and social studies department of schools to find out what to look out for in the city. In a place like Cubbon Park, for instance, students can visit and look at statues, study them, which can later be discussed in the classrooms, or even at the spot.

This way, a lot of projects could completely be their own effort. Taking students to amusements parks is more of a risk than anything else. Students get restless and with today’s rampant negligence, it’s better avoidable.”Her school organises several field trips a year, depending on topics of study after which the children complete worksheets. “If there is an environment topic, then they are taken to the compost factory; manufacturing units include biscuit factory or Bangalore dairy,” she explains.

“No good school should encourage trips to amusement parks. It’s always better to stay away from water-bodies,” says Kavita Ghose, a teacher at Delhi Public School. “It’s better to take students to places where they can learn. Some students were taken to Innovative Film City where students got a chance to make a film.”

“Taking children to a place like Bannerghatta National Park is actually more fruitful because they see and learn about animals which they don’t see regularly, and learn more about nature. When it comes to places like Wonder La, it’s left to parents to take them as they have to take care of just one or two kids at a time,” says KN Bhat, principal of Kendriya Vidyalaya, Indian Institute of Science campus.

Savitha Ramamurthy, president of CMR Groups of Institutions, feels “Taking children on daylong trips is hard for teachers, too, because it’s a lot of responsibility on their shoulders. But trips are essential in school experience because the kind of bonding that happens during these trips among children, which is great.”

CEO of Value and Budget Housing Corporation Education Services (VBHCES), Priya Krishnan, says “I am sure any school that takes its students to WonderLa is taking all the right precautions. But in case of our school, we prefer taking them to zoos and fire stations because they are learning something different.”