Standing committee passes education board proposal to take 180 top-scoring students on Rs 5-lakh study tour to resort owned by former NCP politician

PCMC school trip raises eyebrows

Standing committee passes education board proposal to take 180 top-scoring students on Rs 5-lakh study tour to resort owned by former NCP politician

Au00a0day after MiD DAY reported lacunae in the implementation of the midday meal scheme by the education board of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) caught itself on the wrong foot when the standing committee cleared a last-minute proposal by the education department foru00a0Rs 5-lakh study trip for meritorious students.

Sources in the PCMC's education board said that the proposal came in for a lot of flak from opposition parties after it was noticed that the resort belonged to a politician.

"It was a kind of a last-minute proposal tabled by the education department. The department argued its case by stating that this trip was supposed to make students aware about ecology and there was a lot to see at this resort. But the question is that when students could have been taken to a zoo or a national park and taught more or less the same at lower cost, why favour a private resort?" said a PCMC official, requesting anonymity.

The Other Side

>>PCMC education officer Vishnu Jadhav said the trip had been organised to the resort because it was a one-stop centre for all activities.
>>he resort has a snow park, a hillside, an animal park, various birds species and even a planetarium. Where will all these activities be available under one roof? We have selected this place for its facilities and not because of who owns it," said Jadhav. "These are deliberate attempts to create unnecessary problems."
>> added that cost per student for the trip was approximately Rs 1,800. "The idea is to make children aware of the ecology and that's why this place is ideal as it has all the elements here. In fact we haven't done this for the first time, as until last year we used to take students to North or South India for study tours," said Jadhav.

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