06/09/2026
Beyond the Classroom, A Journey to Sreemangal
By Md. Sohel Hossain
Lecturer | Department of Journalism
Stamford University Bangladesh
Our relationship with students inside a classroom usually follows a familiar pattern. The teacher teaches, the students listen. Sometimes they ask questions; sometimes they simply sit quietly and wait for the class to end.
But outside the classroom, something changes.
The formal distance between a teacher and a student becomes smaller. We stop seeing each other only through the roles of 'teacher' and 'student.' Instead, we become companions on the same journey.
That is why our trip to Sreemangal was more than just an educational tour. In many ways, it was another classroom, one without walls, benches, or a blackboard.
A Journey That Almost Did Not Happen
For several weeks, we had been planning to visit Sreemangal. For me, a trip like this was a relatively new experience. But before the journey even began, we had already gone through a series of unexpected challenges.
We collected money from the students and went to buy train tickets, only to find that there were no tickets available. Eventually, we had to submit an application to the Director General of Bangladesh Railway.
Then came more uncertainty.
Faria Ma'am could not join us. Farishta Ma'am became ill. Finding a suitable resort also turned into a challenge.
One problem came after another.
At one point, it almost felt as if Sreemangal did not want to let us come! Yet, after facing so many uncertainties, we finally managed to begin our journey.
When Theory Meets Reality. This trip was not planned simply for sightseeing.
The students of Batch 84 joined the trip as part of their Photojournalism course. For weeks, we had discussed different principles of photo composition in the classroom.
Now they had the chance to put those lessons into practice.
The tea gardens, winding mountain roads, Madhabpur Lake, and countless scenes of nature became their real-life classrooms.
At the same time, Shabnam Jannat Ma'am brought students from Batches 84 and 85 as part of their Feature and Creative Writing course.
Some students were collecting information for features on the lives of tea workers. Some were exploring the life and culture of the Manipuri community. Others were creating photo features by bringing photographs and words together.
We were all in the same place, but we were not seeing the same thing. Some were looking through camera lenses. Others were looking through notebooks. And perhaps that was the most beautiful part of the trip.
The students were not seeing Sreemangal simply as tourists. They were learning to see it as photojournalists and feature writers.
In the classroom, terms like the rule of thirds, leading lines, frame within a frame, and symmetry can sometimes feel like simple theories.
But standing in front of a tea garden or a mountain landscape and trying to apply those rules changes everything.
The narrow paths between tea plants, the endless rows of green, the slopes of the hills, and the calm waters of Madhabpur Lake, all became possible frames.
When a student uses something learned in class to create a photograph with their own camera, that knowledge becomes more than a lesson from a textbook.
It becomes their own experience. Searching for Stories, Not Just Pictures
After a long train journey, we traveled through different parts of the tea gardens in local open vehicles. There was certainly tiredness, but excitement seemed to win.
As we moved from one place to another, talked, laughed, and shared moments, I began to see another side of my students.
At Noorjahan Tea Garden, their cameras were constantly busy.
Some were photographing nature. Some were taking pictures of their friends. Others were moving around, trying to capture the same scene from different angles. Their eagerness to use what they had learned in class was clear.
Then came Madhabpur Lake.
Walking carefully along the hilly paths, the students were still looking for the perfect frame. Some were capturing the beauty of nature. Some were posing for photographs. Others were creating their own little moments with friends.
Sweet pineapples, guavas, and local foods added another layer to the experience. But the greatest reward of the trip was perhaps not the places we visited.
It was getting to know the students differently.
A student who is usually quiet in class suddenly became full of energy. Someone took responsibility for checking on friends. Someone kept taking photographs. Someone else spent the day laughing and joking with everyone.
And there were also those who became quiet after a long day, simply sitting down to rest. These small moments revealed sides of the students that are often difficult to see inside a regular classroom.
When Teachers Become Learners
Perhaps the most important lesson of the trip was that learning is never a one-way process. Inside the classroom, teachers teach students. But outside the classroom, teachers learn from students too.
One student may find a beautiful frame that everyone else has missed. Another may ask a question that makes the teacher look at something from a completely different angle.
Someone may talk to a stranger and discover a story that others had overlooked.
A journey also tells us a lot about people.
Who takes responsibility? Who can lead? Who stays beside a friend when someone needs help? Who can bring everyone together?
These qualities may never appear in an exam paper, but they are important parts of education.
Inside the classroom, we often know our students through their roll numbers, attendance, assignments, and exam results.
But during a journey, those labels slowly disappear. We begin to see the person behind the student. More Than a Journey. After two days, we were tired.
There had been long walks, long journeys, photographs, conversations, and countless little moments.
Yet the tiredness came with a quiet sense of satisfaction. Because we had not simply visited a few tourist spots.
We had walked together.
We had eaten together.
We had laughed together.
We had taken photographs together.
We had become tired together.
And somewhere along the way, we had shared something that cannot be measured by marks or grades.
The formal distance between teachers and students seemed to become smaller during those two days. The teacher was no longer simply the person standing in front of the classroom.
The teacher was also a member of the group.
And the students were no longer just familiar faces sitting behind desks. They were individuals, with their own stories, dreams, abilities, fears, strengths, and personalities.
Perhaps that is the greatest value of an educational trip. It reminds us that education is not only about getting good marks in examinations.
Education is also about understanding the real world, learning to work with others, taking responsibility, understanding nature, and becoming more sensitive to the people around us. And for some of these lessons, we do not need a blackboard.
Sometimes, we need only a train window.
A narrow path through a tea garden.
A hill under an open sky.
Or the quietness of a forest.
The Sreemangal trip, therefore, was more than a tour. It was an opportunity to see our students in a new light, to discover the people behind their familiar faces and to add a new chapter to our own journey as teachers.
Inside the classroom, we teach our students. But sometimes, when we step outside it, they teach us something too.
Education is not found only in the pages of a book. It is also created through the way we learn to see people, places, and life. And perhaps that is why some of the most beautiful classes have no walls.
