Page 45 - EducationWorld August 2022

Barefoot College track record

SOLAR ENERGY
WATER CONSERVATION AND HARVESTING • The first solar project was initiated on the Tilonia campus
• From the early years of drilling open wells, the Social Work in 1996, training local stakeholders on how to manufacture
and Research Centre (SWRC) aka Barefoot College (BC), has solar lanterns.
utilised the traditional technology of collecting groundwater • Started in 2000, the Solar Mamas Programme trains illiterate
in tankas. and semi-literate women from non-electrified villages on de-
• Thus far, 70 billion litres of water has been harvested and sign, fabrication, installation and repair of solar home-lighting
stored in rainwater tanks, ponds and small dams. Moreover, systems.
safe drinking water has been provided to 1,650 rural schools • In 2008, the Solar Mamas Training Programme was adopted
in 20 states across India. by the Union external affairs ministry. Since then BC, Tilonia
• Barefoot College has installed 1,735 hand pumps in 530 vil- has trained 1,708 illiterate or semi-literate rural women from 96
lages in four states and trained 1,766 people as hand pump countries who have electrified more than 75,000 households
mechanics who are employed by the government of Rajasthan. worldwide saving 45 million litres of kerosene from polluting
the environment.
EDUCATION & SCHOOLING • More than a million people across the world have light and
• Barefoot College has educated 90,000 working children in energy through decentralised, clean solar electricity, replacing
250 night schools in ten states nationwide. Over the past half kerosene lamps.
century, three generations of young people have gone through
the Barefoot learning experience. MEDIA & COMMUNICATION
• Shiksha Niketan, a day school run by SWRC since 1989, has • Puppets are Tilonia’s ambassadors. Glove puppets made
played an important role in fulfilling aspirations of young people of recycled paper, which are easy to use, have replaced the
in Tilonia and neighbouring villages. traditional string puppets. Jokhim Chacha is the bard, mascot
• BC has provided early childhood education to over 300,000 and commentator of Tilonia.
children. • A rich repertoire of plays, skits, songs have addressed a
• Bridge school. This is a residential school for children of mi- range of issues such as water conservation, education of the
grant families, or dropout children from vulnerable sections girl-child, land and ownership, environment, women’s issues
of the local community who never enrolled in formal school. and caste taboos.
• Rural artisans. Leather and tanning, women’s handicrafts, • 2,000 Barefoot Communicators have been trained to pro-
block-printing and designing began in 1974. duce interactive puppet shows. Over 300,000 people have
• The annual Tilonia Bazaar was initiated in 1975. watched these performances in 3,000 Indian villages since
• Hatheli Sansthan project. Working to improve villagers’ liveli- 1981.
hoods through entrepreneurial initiatives.
• BC has nurtured 25,000 artisans in five districts and 48 vil- ENVIRONMENT PROTECTION
lages of Rajasthan. • Barefoot College has been promoting plantations in waste-
lands, pasture land, government schools and nurseries across
WOMEN EMPOWERMENT Rajasthan.
• Recognition of women as contributors to the economy and • The BC Plant Nursery Team manages more than 20,000
their role as wage workers, led to formation of women’s groups native trees and plant species on its campus in Tilonia and
in 11 villages in 1981-82. neighbouring villages.
• These groups educated public opinion against sati, rape • In Village Tikawada, 40,000 trees have been planted on
and organised women to demand minimum wages, leading to wasteland with the community involved in their upkeep.
a favourable Supreme Court verdict (Sanjit Roy vs Rajasthan
State Govt (1983)) for equal wages. WASTE MANAGEMENT
• Barefoot College also trains rural women health workers, mid- • BC has been proactively empowering local communities
wives, masons, hand pump mistris, fabricators, solar engineers to devise low-cost, sustainable, solid waste management
and community radio jockeys. systems.
• More than 7,000 women have been nurtured to develop lead- • With establishment of the triple pillars of water harvesting,
ership skills and educated about the processes of democratic environment greening and waste management, several com-
participation. munities have reaped the benefits of this co-ordinated action.
• Barefoot dentists, pathologists, health workers and midwives • Barefoot College has created Rajasthan’s first zero waste
assist the rural population to access efficient medical care. and plastic-free village: Chhota Narena. This programme has
Over 300,000 patients have been treated in the past 50 years. been successfully implemented in four other villages.

AUGUST 2022 EDUCATIONWORLD 45