Report on One Day Educational Tour to Chandigarh

Venue: Sant Baba Bhag Singh University (Auditorium)

Date: 05-10-2023

Organizing unit/ agency/ collaborating agency:Department of Life Sciences & Allied Health Sciences

No. of Participant’s: 127+9*

Event Report

Educational tours provide hands-on learning opportunities that enhance the understanding of subjects taught in the classroom. Experiencing real-world applications can make abstract concepts more concrete. Educational tours often create lasting memories that students cherish. These experiences can be a source of joy and inspiration long after the tour has ended. Overall, educational tours complement traditional classroom learning by providing enriching, immersive experiences that contribute to the holistic development of students.
With this objective,the Department of Life Sciences & Allied Health Sciencesorganized aneducational tour on 5thOctober 2023. About 127 students from both UG and PG courses from different disciplines of sciences along withnine faculty members departed in three buses from the universityat about 9:30 am. We reached the first venue, Rock Garden, Chandigarh at around 12:30 pm. This is the world-famous sculpture garden created by the Nek Chand, a govt. official in 1957. It is spread over an area of 40 acres and is constructed entirely from industrial & home waste and thrown-away items. The garden was filled with sculptures of human figures, animals and abstracts made from broken pieces of ceramics, glass, bangles bottles and tiles etc. All the sculptures were fascinating and showcased the creativity and resourcefulness of the creator. The garden was designed beautifully to integrate the natural elements with waterfalls that add a serene environment to the garden.The students visited aquariums where they sawmany species of fishlike glow fish, angel fish, parrot fish, gold fish, cat fish, etc. wandering around, open-air theatre, dolls museum and Souvenir Shop.
The students enjoyed and clicked pictures there to capture the beauty of the garden and then moved to our second destination, the Bird Park around 4:00 pm. This is the relatively newer place in Chandigarh that has been designed to provide a natural habitat for various bird species. This place is lush green with well-maintained closures where one can observe the wild bird species closely in its natural habitat. We visited this place in batches of twenty-five students with two teachers heading each batch. The Park has provided ample space for each & every bird with 58 feet flying height with a total ground area of approx. 200×150 feet each for terrestrial birds and aquatic birds. The structure is designed in a way that it surrounds thousands of plants of varying canopies, which gives an ideal habitat, food and shelter for these birds so that they can freely fly and breed.The Department of Forest and Wildlife, UT has constructed the park with a primary motive of protecting the endangered and other species from becoming extinct. Additionally, the secondary motive behind the establishment of this park was to spread awareness among people regarding bird and nature conservation. The park has two walk-through aviaries namely aquatic aviary and terrestrial aviary. The aquatic aviary is home to White swans, Black swans and some fishes. On the other hand, terrestrial aviary nest other species such as Ducorps Cockatoo, Green Wing Macaw, Blue Gold Macaw, Budgerigar and others.
It took almost two hours for us to visit the Bird Park. This visit provided students an educational experience to learn about several bird species and their behaviours in natural environment. The students then enjoyed snacks and tea from the eatery outlet situated near the exit gate of the park and clicked many pictures.Overall, the visit to Rock Garden and Bird Park was both enjoyable and enriching. It was a pleasant and an incredible experience for all of us. Then we returned with so many beautiful pictures and memories and reached the university campus at 9:00 pm.