Permissible luxury or why develop school tourism

The initiative to revive school tourism comes from Russian President Vladimir Putin. However, not everyone considers it possible to implement it, and even call it “unauthorized luxury.”
Indeed, school tourism has its own characteristics. In particular, the accompanying people are obligatory here, and competent enough so that they can manage young tourists and be interested in telling children about the sights, laying pride in their consciousness in their homeland. Add to this the problems of transport accessibility, the inability to transport children in the dark (even when organizing tours in one area, it is necessary to provide places for overnight), the organization of compulsory hot meals – and we will get an informative and useful program, but not from the series. cheap and cheerful. ”
Nikolai Gubenko, actor, director and public figure, after the release of the presidential initiative to revive school tourism, noted his main difficulty: “Who will pay for all this? Again, collect money from their parents? Under current conditions, for most families, even a trip around the country is, unfortunately, an unaffordable luxury! But if a state program is created, under which tourism for schoolchildren will be financed from the budget, that would be great! ”
I am glad that in this case there was no situation when a good initiative remained beautiful words. In the Tomsk region, work has already begun to promote the development of children’s and youth tourism in the framework of the implementation of the state program “Development of domestic and inbound tourism in the territory of the Tomsk region”.
According to Yulia Mikhaleva, deputy head of the regional department for culture and tourism, this year, the state program will allocate about two million rubles from the regional budget to support children’s tourism. “It is planned that according to the school tourism program, children living in Tomsk, Seversk and Tomsk district will go on excursions to other areas of the region, and children from distant regions will come to get acquainted with Tomsk, its scientific potential, as well as visit nearby settlements – Semiluzhki, Asino, Zorkaltsevo, Kolarovo, says Yulia Mikhaleva. – Taking into account the rules of transportation of children excursions will be organized in such a way that children can stay overnight. Such a tour can last 2-3 days. ”
My school years were in the 80s. I remember that we traveled quite actively around the country, there were lucky ones who were also abroad. But for some reason I could not remember a trip to the native land. And after all, it is during school years that attitudes toward the world around us — both far and near — are shaped. If, from an early age, a person will know well what his small homeland is rich with, his main desire will not be to escape from it, but to live here, be proud of it and strive to develop the land where you were born. Therefore, I think that a direct acquaintance with family spaces is a luxury not only permissible, but also necessary.