A school run by a couple in Guwahati, Assam is uplifting the lives of underprivileged children and is running an eco-friendly initiative. Charging ‘dry plastic waste’ as fee, the school also instructs students to deposit at least 10 to 20 plastic items per week, and pledge to not burn plastic. This initiative is an attempt to curb plastic pollution and create awareness about the harmful effects of burning it.
Founded by Parmita Sarma and Mazin Mukhtar in June 2016, Akshar School now has a strength of around 100 students from 4 to 15 years of age. It is funded by the Indian Oil Company. They wanted to start a free school for children, and in the process addressed a larger social and ecological problem brewing in the area. Whenever somebody in the vicinity burned any plastic waste, the classrooms used to get filled with toxic fumes. People used to burn plastics to keep warm.
The school has designed the curriculum fundamentally for poverty-stricken children. Besides teaching subjects such as Science, Geography, and Mathematics, children are also provided vocational skill training so that they can become skilled professionals by the end of the course. Mazin said that the biggest challenge they faced while starting the school was to convince the villagers to send their kids to school as most of them worked in the stone quarries as labourers to earn for their families. So they designed the curriculum in such a way that would fit the child’s needs and build a creative pipeline of employment, post-education.
With the help of the students, the school also educates the community about the harmful effects of burning plastic. They teach the villagers to recycle the waste and become agents of change. As a result of the school’s initiative, more and more families in the village have started participating in the recycling drive and spreading awareness.
