The goal is that Indian private schools could bring their students to camp schools in Finland in the future.
Finland’s tourism opportunities will be presented to principals of Indian private schools this spring.
Before the corona, thousands of Chinese school children attended camp schools in Finland. Now they want to open the door to camp school tourism in India as well, says tourism promotion center Visit Finland.
In May, the sightseeing trips are especially directed to Järvi-Suomi.
Private schools are educational gifts for children and young people from wealthy families, for whom one- or even two-week long camp school trips to the United States and Europe are a regular activity.
Happiness, education and nature fascinate
Finland is interesting to Indians thanks to its nature, high-quality education and egalitarian society. In Visit Finland’s plans, camp school students could combine their visit to Finland with another camp school going to Europe.
The first group of students is coming to Finland in late spring, and the next ones are expected in the fall. Camp school trips are arranged by an Indian-French travel agency, for which a Finnish tour operator puts together the program packages.
According to Antila, the public discussion around, for example, the Pisa learning results and the need for school reform has not taxed Finland’s reputation as a pioneer in education.
– Finland has already been chosen as the happiest country in the world for the sixth time. And for us, happiness is combined with Pisa’s reputation, schoolchildren are satisfied with their lives and with the fact that they have time to do other things alongside school, says Antila.
In Central Finland, principals’ destinations include the Piispala youth center in Kannonkoski and the hotel Revontuli in Hankasalmi.
Päivi Antila, who is responsible for educational tourism at Visit Finland, says that the things that interest camp school students are things that usually affect us.
– We want to meet local students and do things together with them. The group of principals was able to learn baseball with the students last time. A trip to the forest can be an experience when you sit by a campfire and, in the best case, see the northern lights. We have a lot of things that you might not get to experience elsewhere in Europe, Antila sums up.