Youth hostels

Family and Child Welfare 3 (3+0)

Lesson 18 : Recreational Services for Children

Youth hostels

Industrialization and urbanization have brought about changes in the way of life. Through excursion in the country side away from crowd industrial towns, youth can utilize their leisure in the most fruitful manner.

A youth hostel is a place of friendship, recreation and out of school education at which young people of a different social background, opinion and nationality can meet and come to each other. It is a building which offers in expensive shelter to young people at cheaper rates.

Values of hostelling
Youth Hostelling has the following values, functions and advantages:

  1. Recreational valueof the youth hostelling lies in walking, hiking, cycling, trekking, group songs and dances, sharing common task, enjoyment of scenery which are basic components of hostelling. It is an inexpensive holiday, an intelligent and enriching use of leisure and an opportunity of adventure.

  2. Social valueof hostelling is found in living a community life, sharing a dormitory and making friends. It creates good-will, comradeship and understanding between people of different regions and countries. It breaks regional, national, lingual, racial and religious barriers.

  3. Educational aspectsof hostelling include gaining knowledge of country-side, nature, monuments, and places of historical interest, geography, and inculcating a sense of discipline. Hostelling helps in self-training and self-management. New depth and richness are added to the personality of youth. They get training in democratic and co-operative living.

  4. Cultural aspects of hostelling lie in establishing contacts with different cultural patterns through travel and participating in cultural activities of dance, drams, etc. while in a youth hostel. It gives the youth an opportunity to study art, ancient paintings and sculpture and promotes cultural nearness. Youth hostelling has been compared to pilgrimage having cultural and educational potential.
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Last modified: Wednesday, 15 February 2012, 9:09 AM