30 Meritorious School students from Ludhiana fly for first time

Turbulence, boarding, check-in, crew, take-off — these were new words for many students who embarked on a five-day trip to Jaipur by air. For 30 students from modest backgrounds, flying for the first time was truly an ‘out of the world’ experience. Their joy knew no bounds when they were informed that they would travel to Jaipur from Chandigarh by air, with the entire expense borne by the state government.

As many as 95 students from Ludhiana's Meritorious School left for Jaipur on February 8 for the five-day trip. However, the journey was made extra special for 30 academically outstanding students, who were selected to travel by air as a reward for their performance.

District Education Officer Dimple Madan told The Tribune that the department had directed them to shortlist 30 top-performing students for air travel to Jaipur while remaining 65 were scheduled to travel by a bus. “However, since we wanted more students to experience air travel, 30 students flew from Chandigarh to Jaipur while another 30 will return by air from Jaipur to Chandigarh. In this way, 60 Class XI students will get their first experience of flying,” she said.

Dalwinder, whose father is engaged in agriculture, described it as the best experience of his life. “Watching air hostesses and crew members, witnessing take-off and even turbulence — everything was exciting. Many of us were unaware of details of air travel but the crew patiently answered our questions,” he said.

Another student, Arushi, said it was a mix of anxiety and thrill. “I was nervous during take-off and landing, especially when the plane descended and city lights were visible in the dark. It felt like a fairy-tale experience. We learned about seat belts, call buttons and other things. I can’t wait to share these things with my family, as it will be new for them too. My father runs a small shop and coming from a humble background, it is a huge motivation for us to perform even better,” she said.

Kamaljit Kaur, the accompanying teacher, said a lot of effort went into shortlisting the students based on merit. The state government bore the expenses of the air travel as an encouragement to the excellent students across all 19 blocks of Ludhiana district.