Help Build An Eco-school For Farmer Kids In One Of The Driest Places In India

Few have heard about Pandhari, a nondescript village in the drought-prone Marathwada in Maharastra. At the only primary school in Pandhari, nearly 67 kids are regular attendants. However, the paucity of funds and administerial apathy had left the school at Pandhri in quite a dilapidated state. Over the years, the four-roomed school building has reduced to shambles, along with the quality of education imparted.

Primary education in Pandhari perhaps would have ceased to exist had Nabhangan Foundation not intervened at just the right time. The Maharashtra NGO is the brainchild of popular actress Rajshri Deshpande. Among its numerous other activities, reconstruction of the Pandhari school is right now their foremost priority. Nabhangan Foundation is building an eco-school with the 3R principle of Reduce, Reuse and Recycle at its helm. The aim is to develop the school as a focal centre of progress in the village, bringing all stakeholders together and birthing ideal future citizens.

The Problem 

The dingy rooms of the old school building lacked proper ventilation while the flooring had come off to reveal the rugged reality underneath. Electricity was a far-fetched dream. The foundation and framework had become so weak that there was always the risk of walls or roof collapsing. 

Even in the sweltering summer with months of no rain, the children often had to sit outside the school and have classes for hours in the blazing sun. There were no usable toilets in the school. Naturally, it became increasingly difficult for the girl students to go in the open, so much so that many of them started dropping out. The quality of education imparted at the school also comes under the scanner for its irregularity and lack of depth with indolent and often incompetent teachers. 

The next school is as far as 8 kilometres from the village, with no proper means of transport. Parents are often wary to send their girls alone so far. Inevitably, their school ends abruptly once they step into puberty, sometimes even before that. Their boundary automatically becomes restricted within the kitchen – at her own home and sometime later, her husband’s home. 

There are 80 kids enrolled in the Pandhri school, but only 67 used to attend regularly. The dropouts are mostly girls, whose families might have considered early marriage a far more worthwhile option for them than education.

Rajshri Deshpande has gone door to door pleading with the parents to send their kids to school. She hopes that the new school building with a revamped curriculum will help convince the parents.

The Solution 

Building a school from scratch is no cakewalk. Aside from the paraphernalia, the monetary investment is also quite high. So, Rajshri has opted to build a sustainable and eco-friendly school, which can become an example for other villages. This will not only drastically reduce the carbon footprint, but also incur less expense. 

Aside from the academics, after school hours and on holidays, the school building will also serve as a community centre for discoursing skill development sessions to the village women. It will cater to the villagers as a place to come together and discuss the development of the village.

The key features on their blueprint include spacious and naturally lit and well-ventilated rooms and complete use of sustainable, locally-sourced and recycled materials. “For example, we are using fly ash bricks and sun-dried mud bricks, which are much more resilient and adaptable to climate. The frames for doors and windows are being made from recycled steel, coming straight from the scrap market. We are using upcycled tyre furniture,” chief architect Madhura elaborates. The renovated school premises will comprise a sports field and a vegetable garden for students to get inducted into scientific methods of farming. The building will be aligned with an adjacent water body which will help in controlling the indoor temperature. Nabhangan team has been extra cautious to preserve 22 existing trees at the school premises. 

Rajshri envisions to create not just a school building but a wholesome learning experience. She hopes to integrate workshops as well as digital classrooms in the school in the near future. The curriculum will include life skills alongside academics. 

So far, she single-handedly funded for the school reconstruction project from her own fixed deposit, christened as Project Vision. Her grand vision of building a dream school can be fulfilled if well-wishers from every corner of the nation identify with her cause and lend their gracious support.