Summer camps are here again

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Summer camps are a leisure period for kids after schools close. Even though the government has strengthened the Covid-19 regulations, some of the institutes across the city are organising summer camps adhering to the Covid 19 protocol. But have the post-lockdown restrictions hampered the jovial nature of summer camps for kids? TNIE looks at some of the online and offline summer camps in the city. A summer camp is organising indoor and outdoor games for children aged between five and 15. The two-month camp by DJ Sports Club at Vayalikkada also include kalari, yoga, gymnastics, badminton, cricket, football and many other activities. 

“The activities will help the children’s mental health too,” Rohan Ali Khan, head coach of the club, said. “We have divided the students into several batches here and have given them separate time slots to maintain social distancing. We receive a lot of enquiries about Covid-19 safety measures as parents are more alert now,” he said. 

Rajesh Chandran T T, director of Theatre Academy for Media and Performance (THAMP), adds that the camps are now the solutions for parents to keep children’s mind and body engaged through various events. THAMP is organising a two-month children’s theatre and life skill workshop, Kuttikoodaram, on its campus in Peroorkada. 

According to Rajesh, summer camps have to be offline and can be conducted by taking safety measures. “We have clusters with three to five children and make them perform solo or group. The seats for the workshop are limited due to the pandemic. We began this camp as children have started showing behavioural changes due to lockdown,” Rajesh, who is also a child psychologist, said. 

Meanwhile, Kerala State Jawahar Bala Bhavan at Vellayambalam is holding the summer camp online. It has launched an online summer camp for the first time for students between four and 16. The principal of the institute, Dr S Malini, said the online sessions will be a medium to engage the kids during the post-lockdown period. 

“This year, we got sanctions to conduct online summer camp so we have organised classes on drawing, clay modelling, spoken English, music instruments etc. There is a huge fall in admissions this year for online classes. This year, less than 500 students have signed up for the classes,” she added.