Four decades ago, when we were in our second year of undergraduate studies in a government college in Darjeeling, our professors took a group of thirty of us from the Faculty of Science for a three-day educational tour. Remembering the artificial lotus flower and the fountain of water coming out from the center of the Mirik Lake, which was never seen during the visit, makes the mind even more happy. That moment of being able to taste new places and different new dishes is still fresh in my mind. In this way, we teachers and staff have started going on educational visits in the last week of the academic session for some years to refresh the memories of the educational visits we made during our student days.

In the past, we visited Hille and Ilam in Dhankuta to promote domestic tourism. The visit to the nearby tourist spots including the trip to Hile to get relief from the scorching heat of March and Pus in the Terai, to experience the winter of Magh, was pleasant and unforgettable for us. In the same way, the moment we visited Sidhuwa, Vasantpur, Athapaharia Museum, including Tinjure, which is known as the capital of Gurans, not only made us teachers excited, but also made us feel that from now on, we should make educational trips every year. That's why during our three-day visit to Ilam last year, we not only got the opportunity to visit the tourist spots there, but while visiting Kanyam, Ilam, Maipokhari, Panitar, we reached my Mawli home. What a coincidence, I can't forget the happy moment when the car reached the yard of the house when I was going to Mawl sometimes in my childhood. The teachers and staff of my Madhesi community, who had never seen a mountain, were surprised to see tea leaves along with vegetables in the vegetable garden.

The destination of this year's educational tour I made Banarhat under Jalpaiguri district of West Bengal state of India. On the second day of this year's five-day educational tour, we visited the Sunday market of Banerhat, which has been around for more than six decades. As there are tea houses and slums around Banerhat market, on Sundays some goods are bought and sold in the weekly market. My brother and sister along with me went to Adarsh ​​Vidya Mandir School where we got our education. There was a public park near the school. While walking around the park, I thought - 'How great it would be if there were public parks like this in Viratnagar too?' 

We had a fun trip to Hasimara and like a Scorpio, we reached the gate of Phuncholing, Bhutan, which is connected along the border of Jaigaon market in Naucite City Safari. Even though Bhutan is a small country, the Bhutanese government allows not only citizens of other countries but also citizens of neighboring countries to enter the border by showing the necessary documents. 

All in all, the unforgettable moments gathered in such educational tours make not only us teachers but also students excited throughout the year. Helps to keep energetic and creative. Similarly, traveling together, sitting and working together in the same kitchen not only increases intimacy between teachers and staff, but also helps to understand each other's feelings. Last year we organized a weekly two-hour teacher dialogue in our school during the evening of the three-day educational visit to Elam. In this way, we did not only talk about knowledge in the teacher dialogue, which made us forget the tiredness of the whole day, we also had the opportunity to enjoy the music. Similarly, this year too, after returning from the visit, we presented the experiences of the visit in written form in our teacher dialogue.

We have been sharing the experiences and feelings of the trip with the students every year. We also tell our parents about the visit in the parent meeting. Educational visits not only increase intimacy between teacher-teacher and student-student, but also help to strengthen the relationship between them. Such a relationship between them makes teaching and learning lively. In this way, the majority of school principals, administrators and teachers do not seem to understand the all-round positive impact of educational visits.