9th of October was celebrated as “Post Office Day” at Staford School. With the intent of bringing the real life, practical knowledge into class room experiences and school curriculum, students of class 4, 5 and 6 were taken for a visit to Chowk Post Office, Lucknow, to acquire knowledge about what happens after a letter is posted in the letter box. The children were led into a meaningful exploration of the processing of posted letters and given an insight into a wide variety of services that a post office offers.
Stafordians were very excited and eager for this visit. All the students had prepared a letter to post, and were ready to learn all about the journey of a letter from the post office. As usual, there was a pen and notebook with everyone to record the information gained. Teachers and students reached the post office at 10:40 am in the school vans where P.R.O. of the post office Mr. R. K. Chauhan received the Stafordians and guided them to other gate of the post office to avoid the usual rush. Inside the post office, the children were greeted by the Postmaster himself, Mr. Anusuya Prasad Singh, an IPS officer. He was so happy to see the excitement of the children to know about the post office, that he took the onus of guiding them to various sections of the post office himself.
The Postmaster explained that Chowk Post Office is basically a delivery branch and handles mails of 24 areas of Lucknow. He showed them the sorting “pigeonholes”. Each pigeonhole is designated to a particular area and is used to store the sorted mail of that area. After that the sorted mail is assigned to the postman of that area and is distributed by him.
After that the children were taken to the accounts branch of the post office which handles salary distribution of the post office personnel. Then to treasury, which handles the cash deposits. Here children were surprised to see the cash counting machine.
However, children’s favorite part of the visit was the stamp section where they were given information about the types of stamps. They were told that stamps for daily use are known as “definitive stamps” and stamps specially issued for collection are known as “commemorative stamps”. Some beautiful commemorative stamps based on Olympics and Indian Dance Forms were shown to the children.
Then it was the turn of the children to put all the things learnt to use. So, they purchased stamps and posted their cards. After an hour of information gathering, the students discovered that post office is not only a place to post letters, but can also provide many other services. The students of class 6 presented The Postmaster Mr. Singh with a “Thank You” card to pay their respects for his efforts in making this visit immensely educative for the children. He also appreciated the discipline of the children and efforts of Staford School to bring the children out of the classrooms and learn the lessons of life practically.
The visit to the Post Office was certainly a great learning opportunity for the students as they learnt many things about the working of a great institution like Post Office.