Leadership training Camp
Leadership camp is organized at Vellingiri Andavar Temple, Poondi, a beautiful foot-hill station 30 Km away from Coimbatore. It’s an annual activity for the Physical Education Teacher Trainees of GAPEY. All the students and staff retire to a silent forest area and there trainees are trained in different activities for about a week days. It is a life time experience with our students. Our alumni fondly reminisce the days they spent in Leader Ship Training Camp. The activities inside the camp are as follows.
- The trainees are trained in setting up a temporary accommodation in forest area. They set up with their own hands an area for accommodation, kitchen, dining hall and temporary toilets.
- To familiarize the students with the culture of the people (tribes) liv-ing in forests and hilly areas they are divided into several houses each house bearing the name of a particular tribe and the corresponding yelling.
- To develop leadership qualities and organizing abilities in life, every day starts with flag-hoisting and house-wise assembly.
- For the knowledge of the surroundings and entertainment they are taken for cross-country walks to different places every day.
- A day long trekking is organized on one of the days to familiarize the students with the mountain area and its surroundings.
- For the entertainment and training of students, folk songs are sung in the afternoons and cultural programs & camp fire are organized in the night. various miscellaneous sports items like, Stunts and games, Art & Craft, Treasure hunt, Mock sports, Progressive party games etc., are also interspersed in the routine and performance of each house is evaluated.
- There are events which bring out innate creativity in them like kit ar-rangements in the rooms etc. Each house is asked to arrange a theme (for example, a play ground, a sports shop, a temple etc.,) in their living room with the existing things at hand and with the materials collected from forest. The themes are evaluated by the staff-members considering their various aspects.
- Students are taught specific skills required in forest and mountain areas like Map reading and Knots & Lashes.
- Lectures are organized by forest-personnel regarding the forest ecology and nature of wild life.
- To familiarize the trainees with nature and forest environment, students are asked to explore many sorts of medicinal herbs, fruits and like available in forests.
- Cultural programs in which students have to participate in the nights are almost without preparation. It which helps them in developing their presence of mind.