Tourism Environment Culture Awareness (TECA) Program
What if there exists a way of imparting education in a non burdened manner, with the intention of untangling curiosity about famous destinations, rich culture and its connectivity to the environment through engaged learning. To this thought, Unexplored Bastar came up with an unique alternative of introducing the students to the world of tourism in an engaging manner through the TECA program. TECA stands for Tourism, Environmental and Cultural Awareness, A program focused on educating the school students about tourism & spreading awareness on how the environment and culture are a linked aspect when one is learning about a touristy destination. The very 1st TECA session took place in the year 2020. The birth of TECA took place with the idea of merging the tourism community & the school students in order to introduce the upcoming youth generation towards what the tourism sector offers. Becoming a part of the TECA program sessions, the members of the tourism community (who are mostly the residents around the area where the destination lies) share their experience and motivate kids to build a self-sufficient & independent future for themselves. This proves to be an encouraging factor for the members of the community to be proud of their work representing themselves as the stakeholders of that particular area. This benefits the whole program of TECA as the community members eliminate the language barrier and are able to connect with their own people using their local language. This communication leads the students in a whole new positive direction. Involving the members from the community in a session inspires the kids to take up their careers in tourism and know about the exposure this sector holds. The locations where the TECA program has been organized since its inception includes Dholkal, Nambi, Barsoor, Tirtha, Tirathgarh and many other urban – rural setups which is like crossing a huge milestone. The TECA program has managed to impact more than 2000 students till date is a huge accomplishment in itself.
It aims at educating kids about the history, importance, richness held by the prominent ancient structures, traditional festivals, artforms, forestry, the stellar world and so many interesting topics. The anecdotes attached to its formation as well as how the structures have sustained themselves throughout the years. The real future representatives of these gems need to be educated and awared about them in depth. And it doesn’t end here, TECA Program also reflects on the scope the tourism industry holds and if they are willing to learn about how a career in this industry looks like. A way of exchanging knowledge to the kids acts as an eye opener for them to understand the depth of what learning it has to provide. The criterias of teaching programs in the TECA program has a scope of expansion to its fullest. The TECA program is a medium of extensive learning along with a resourceful material kit. This kind of program makes organizations aware about the boundaries of career scope other than farming and seasonal migration. The most important area attached with the workshops is the demonstrational learning attached to it.
TECA program invites every child to grasp the concepts under this moduled educational
Scheme. An introductory class on what this program comprises, the category of subjects and topics that would be covered under it.
The classes on different modules which have been taken up by the team are as follows –
i) BEST – Bringing Education For Sustainable Tourism, includes various volumes teaching new and innovative ideas on how we can promote sustainable tourism. It is also important to understand what it takes to presesrve the heritage of a destination. We as citizens of a particular region, many times forget to pay our respects to the rich culture which a destination might be carrying throughout centuries.
ii) Taare Sitaare – This program is designed to introde stellar world. With the assistance of Telescopes, they can take a look at meteroid shower, planet gazing like Venus, Uranus and the moon. Before that they are introduced with concepts like eclipses and the working of the solar system, along with associated concepts like tides and the orbital pattern of various planets. This acts as an educational serving for the kids but it also ticks the recreational aspect’s check box for the tourists visiting the places. Because in a journey where you are spending a tranquil night in the arms of a clear sky, gazing at the space with a telescope has its own spotlight.
The modules also tries to involve giving practical classes on all the theory knowledge to make the students understand their working & functioning in real time, like,
- Fixing tents
- Trek participation
- Adventure sports Training
- First aid training
- Swimming classes
- Birding (how important is it to protect these birds and know their value)
- Butterfly, forestry (gazing at the butterflies and studying about them)
- Culture conservation – learning the concepts of Ghotul, Dev gudi
- Languages classes – for enhancing their communication in the outer world
TECA program is one of the best initiatives by Unexplored Bastar in the path of imparting education within the scope of tourism. The team of Unexplored Bastar focuses on bringing forward the real representatives of Bastar – the ones who know this destination fom the roots and are the most connected with it. The approach here is towards establishing a program where kids themselves get familiar briefly with the field of tourism and can also carry on with their careers in the similar field if they wish to. The team plans on introducing a new volume in the TECA program modules which will be very destination specific. This volume will include levels from basics to detailed modules in cave formation & its types, types of waterfall, temple structure and their archaeological styles etc. This volume targets the specifics of tourism and focuses on kids who are interested in tourism or want to establish a career in the future.
The transition of getting along with the kids in the TECA session is a very delicate process where you should get to know the receiving end first and understand their pace of learning. A session that doesn’t actually push one into the burden of learning something but a willingness which comes from within. The moment you realise they aren’t losing interest is when you see them engaged till the core even after continuous sessions and the spark in their eyes to go into the depth of topics. That is when you figure out that demonstrational teaching impacts one’s mind effectively. They are keen towards learning when they feel belonged in the classroom and do not have an extended obligation to fulfill. It is an absolute pleasure to inform kids and burst their curiosity filled balloons through a fountain of knowledge. Then this fountain of knowledge is carried along with them through the years which they pass on to the tourists or simply the locals residing near those destinations. The community team constantly tries to introduce innovative ways that can be involved within the sessions. This initiative is a very unique concept in itself because it is actually trying to involve kids with the cultural past attached to their habitat and teaches about a whole new industry of career. Through the initiative of TECA Program, Unexplored Bastar urges the upcoming generations to take part in a journey of identifying tourism as an opportunity and to explore the vastness attached within it.
