Summer Camps hit the city
The summer month of April indicates opening of various summer camps in every nook and corner of the city. Most of these camps aim at building up the creative, communicational and personal skills of children and a few others are academic oriented. “It has helped me to make a number of friends and boost up my confidence level.” says Vidya, a ninth standard student who has been attending summer camps since the past two years. “Majority of the families are nuclear where both parents go for work. So they prefer their kids getting engaged in creative activities rather than wasting their time.” says Ravikumar, a businessman. There are three summer camps in Sambandham Road of RS Puram, all on the same lane. Lalit Kalakshetra, having a tradition of 18 years, conducts art camps for kids as two different courses depending on their age groups. Children till the age of 13 is given the foundation course covering drawing,abacus, karate, music and dance. In the advanced level, for kids above 14 years, are given a coaching of B.Arch entrance test along with other courses of painting, designing, and photography. The students are given a certificate approved by the Bharathiyar University.Coimbatore Cultural Academy (CCA), with four centres across the city, comes out with a 21 day program for kids of 5-14 years. It provides a blend of arts, sports and development programs under the same roof.“Our camps make the kids better people physically, mentally and socially.” says Sasikala, the in-charge of Smart Kids Summer Camp. The camp along with usual courses provides coaching in social etiquette, soft toy making and western dance. Besides certificates and Best Student Award, the Academy also offers free health-check up,screening of educational movies etc. The summer camp which has been successful for last 7 years has half day and full day programs for kids of 3-18 years. Helen O’Grady, an international drama academy conducts drama programs and English speech classes in 5 schools across Coimbatore.The academy insists students to attend at least three years of classes which aims at increasing the confidence, self-esteem and verbal skills. The Integral Yoga Institute conducts 6 day camps for kids of 8-14 years. Training is given in yogasana, meditation along with other arts and craft skills. The average fee structure of these camps is between Rs. 750- 5000.
