Everest expedition: Thirty students to undergo training

Only those proven eligible after the training will be shortlisted

Students of the social and tribal welfare residential educational institutions selected for mountain expedition training, in Vijayawada on Monday.— Photo: Ch. Vijaya Bhaskar

Thirty students hand picked from social and tribal welfare residential educational institutions of the State are a step closer to having the opportunity of climbing Mt. Everest, the wildest dream of any mountaineer in the world.

Under the ‘Top of the World’ programme of the Social Welfare Department , 15 students each from the AP Tribal Welfare Residential Educational Institutions Society (APTWREIS) and AP Social Welfare Residential Educational Institutions Society (APSWREITS) were selected and given preliminary mountaineering training at Kethanakonda. Starting Tuesday, they will undergo a 20-day Special Mountaineering Course at the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute in Sikkim.

In a programme held to see off the students here on Monday, Social Welfare Minister Ravela Kishore Babu congratulated them and distributed kits needed for the training course.

Mr. Kishore Babu said the programme had been designed to bring up confidence levels among the students and also help them explore the world.

“We expect at least five students to get qualified for the final expedition. All the document work with mountaineering foundations and the China government had been done, he said.

Luxury trip

Meanwhile, the department is also taking a team of APSWERIS students who performed well in academics on a “luxury trip” to Hyderabad. Mr. Kishore Babu said the students would be reaching Hyderabad on a flight from Vijayawada on November 30 and would be accommodated in a five-star hotel.