Barefoot College of Shri Bunker Roy
Bunker Roy, who has been engaged in the nation building project at the grassroots level for the last 40 years ( Since 1970s ). Bunker Roy thought differently... He realized that there is a difference between being literate and educated, and many illiterate people have skills and abilities that can build our communities. He acted on this assumption by teaching illiterate grandmothers from rural areas to become engineers, who, in turn, are now solar electrifying their villages.
Bunker Roy experimented with living on $1 a day. He is training villagers to develop solutions in solar energy, water, education, healthcare, women’s education and wasteland development. More than one billion people live on less than one dollar a day. Seventy-five percent of the ultra-poor live in rural areas with no access to clean water, education, or light.
The Social Work and Research Centre ("SWRC"), widely known as the Barefoot College is a voluntary organisation working in the fields of education, skill development, health, drinking water, women empowerment and electrification through solar power for the upliftment of rural people, which was founded by Bunker Roy in 1972. It is registered under Friends of Tilonia Inc. After conducting a survey of water supplies in 100 drought prone areas, Bunker Roy established the Social Work and Research Centre in 1972.
Barefoot College stands out because of its 40-year history of providing basic services and solutions to problems in rural communities. The College has a strong commitment to the Gandhian spirit of service and sustainability; to the central belief that knowledge, skills and wisdom found in villages should be used for internal development before getting help from outside; and to supporting women’s empowerment and gender equality.
Diplomas, certificates or other paper-qualifications are not required at Barefoot College. None of the Barefoot trainers have formal degrees, nor are any certificates awarded on completion of the program. What, then is the outcome of a Barefoot education — the impact of an illiterate woman who becomes a solar engineer, a man who becomes a Barefoot architect, a child who attends night school taught by Barefoot teachers?
The "Villagers' Barefoot College" in the village of Tilonia gives lessons in reading, writing and accounting to adults and children especially the "drop-outs, cop-outs and wash-outs." Girls heavily outnumber boys in the night schools. In 2016 there were approximately 7000 children attending 150 night schools.
After decades of community based development work, Barefoot College now runs solar engineer trainings for 100 rural grandmothers each year so that they can return to their villages and build sophisticated solar panels that light up their community. The solar program alone more than 50 countries, 700 women engineers who bring light to more than 1,000 villages or 450,000 people in rural communities. Programs centered on water, education and livelihood also deliver supplies and technology to communities in need and ensure that the next generation of Barefoot Professionals can continue to succeed. Every tool, from drawing tablets to solar panels, is built by local villagers for more prosperous, self-sufficient and sustainable communities. All programs are designed and taught using images and diagrams so that any person, irrespective of age, gender or literacy, can learn the same skills.
In a panel discussion on creating business at the bottom of the pyramid, Barefoot College founder Bunker Roy argued against big business interventions and in favor of a bottom-up approach that helped people help themselves. He argued that until we begin treating people living in extreme and debilitating poverty as our equals, as potential solutions to the problem and heroes to their own stories — we cannot help them rise out of their conditions. “They have tremendous knowledge and skills which we have completely ignored,” said Bunker. Only when we value those skills and form partnerships with those communities can we begin to put rural people in control of the tools and technologies they need to improve their quality of life each and every day.
Awards
In 1998, it was awarded the Indira Gandhi Paryavaran Puraskar (Indira Gandhi Environment Award), by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India.
In 2003, the Barefoot College won an Ashden Award for its work bringing solar power to rural villages.
In 2013 it was declared that Bunker Roy would receive a 'Clinton Global Citizen Award', along with young activist Malala Yousufzai
In 1998, it was awarded the Indira Gandhi Paryavaran Puraskar (Indira Gandhi Environment Award), by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India.
In 2003, the Barefoot College won an Ashden Award for its work bringing solar power to rural villages.
In 2013 it was declared that Bunker Roy would receive a 'Clinton Global Citizen Award', along with young activist Malala Yousufzai
CSIR – ( CSMCRI ) Central Salt and Marine Chemicals Research Institute, Bhavnagar Designed low cost RO ( Reverse Osmosis ) Plants for Villages.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bx3sEppnU3c
http://csmcri.org/Pages/About/about_us.php
Bunker ( Sanjit ) Roy: Learning from a barefoot movement
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qqqVwM6bMM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuqWucWSh-E
Barefoot College Website : https://www.barefootcollege.org/