Page 44 - EducationWorld August 2022

Cover Story

floors and live and work barefoot,” it
has progressively established an im-
pressive record in forestry, rainwater
harvesting, skilling rural solar and wa-
ter engineers and training paramed-
ics, including village dentists. Yet BC’s
greatest impact has been on the socio-
emotional psyche of the country’s ru-
ral majority reduced to second-class
citizenship.
C ONTINUOUSLY DENIED

acceptable quality primary
education (as routinely
testified by ASER annual
surveys) and learning English — the
language of upward mobility — by
venal state politicians focused on re- Sharma: self respect & opportunity L. Singh (left): legendary reputation
cruiting vernacular kith and kin into
government schools and neck-deep in waste into organic compost and nu- solutions to increase campus water
textbooks commissioning and print- trients for soil regeneration. storage capacity to 2 million litres.
ing rackets, and simultaneously being “I am very grateful to BC for re- Moreover, 600 government schools
denied fair prices for farm produce, storing my self-respect and providing in Tilonia district and 1,600 statewide,
citizens of Bharat, the other India, me the opportunity to serve my rural have been made water and toilets suf-
have been reduced to the status of pa- brethren. Now my mission is to trans- ficient by BC engineers.
thetic supplicants. The rich repository form deserts into forests and educate “Although we use traditional tech-
of village India’s traditional wisdom and train others to follow in my foot- nologies to make villages water suffi-
and skills have little value in the new steps and make rural India prosper- cient, these technologies are continu-
society shaped by an urban bourgeoi- ous,” says Sharma with disarming ously upgraded through innovation.
sie focused on primitive capital accu- modesty. For instance, we have substituted
mulation. Barefoot College’s greatest Likewise ax m an Sing h, a hydro traditional lime and water coating
L
achievement is that it has provided geology postgrad of Rajasthan Uni- with ferro cement. To be able to green
citizens of Bharat an alternative de- versity, thanks his lucky stars that desert areas and help poorest people
centralised socio-economic develop- he forsook the option of relatively to raise their standards of living is a
ment blueprint for rural regeneration well-paid government employment very satisfying vocation,” says Lax-
and self-reliant prosperity. and came aboard Barefoot College in man Singh, a member of the apex
The history and career trajectory 1987. Over the years he has acquired level management team at Barefoot
of H anu m an Sharm a, the son of legendary reputation as a rainwater College.
an anganw adi (preschool) helper harvesting (rwh) and water conserva- Indeed, even at the risk of rep-
who made himself literate by sign- tion technologist. On the BC, Tilonia etition, perhaps the greatest achieve-
ing up in a Barefoot College night campus his team of barefoot engineers ment of Barefoot College is that it has
school, provides a good case study. In has built a massive 400,000 litres infused a surge of self-confidence and
1987, Sharma signed up with BC as a rwh underground tank beneath the can-do spirit of self-reliance into citi-
student-volunteer. Learning by doing college amphitheater and engineered zens of rural Bharat, neglected by gov-
and working with BC’s barefoot water ernment and the establishment. With
engineers, he has since transformed their elected representatives routine-
into a highly respected forestry and Perhaps the greatest ly co-opted into the establishment
environment rejuvenation profes- which has barely concealed disdain
sional who has orchestrated planting achievement of Barefoot for backward, ill-educated k isans,
of 900,000 trees in 400 arid acres of College is that it has infused there’s dawning awareness in village
rural Rajasthan, and has discovered a surge of can-do spirit of India that they have to develop local
92 medicinal plants being purchased leaders with adequate knowledge of
by the ay urvedic pharma industry. self-reliance into the citizens capital light alternative technologies
Coterminously, he has developed of rural Bharat to improve living standards in Bharat.
a technology for converting village A prototype leader empowered by

44 EDUCATIONWORLD AUGUST 2022