BMC extends picnic to more school students

For the first time, all students of Class 4 and Class 7 of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) schools would get an opportunity to attend the annual school picnic. Earlier, only rank holders of these classes were taken for the picnic but now each and every student will get a chance to enjoy this picnic which is free of cost.

Till date, every year the civic body would take only rank holders from Class 4 and Class 7 for this annual picnic as a reward for their academic excellence. But this practice was criticised to be unfair towards other children by members of the education committee.

After a debate over this issue, the civic body has now decided to take each and every child of all civic-run schools for this recreational outing.

The members claimed every child has the right and willingness to go for a picnic. Sainath Durge, senior member of education committee, said, “The corporation would take only rank holders for the annual picnic which comprised merely 10 per cent of the total number of students. This was unfair as every child wishes to go for a picnic which happens once a year.”

Around 75,000 students of Class 4 and 7 of over 1,048 civic-run schools of eight different mediums English, Hindi, Marathi, Urdu, Gujarati, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada will be taken for this annual picnic.

Shubhada Gudekar, chairman of the education committee of the BMC, said, “We will fund the entire cost of the picnic. Through this picnic we want to give the kids an opportunity to enjoy and have fun.”

The picnic to Kidzania theme park will be planned in the next two months. A senior education official said, “Most of the kids of BMC schools cannot afford to visit such theme parks on their own. This initiative will give all children an equal opportunity to witness an interactive recreational experience.”