Anchoring dreams with a Sustainable School

My story is about a school! A school that makes dreams of a young India come to life. A school that
is a partner to the child in the journey of accomplishment.

I remember that crisp fresh smell of paper that I would find myself reminiscing about when I recall
the commencement of every new session, new bags, new uniforms, new shoes; all brand new and
sparkling!

But for majority of rural students in India this remains a far-fetched dream. Through the corporate
social responsibility platform, corporates are promising underprivileged students a brighter future
with every 'YeLo green school’, YELO GREEN School is a unique holistic solution in which school
education can be made more conducive, fun and engaging while sensitizing kids on sustainability.

Well is this possible? And how does this work? How can you contribute to this cause?

The horror of education in Rural India

A. Many Rural Schools have depressing and lack lustre infrastructure and do not have any
play area or fun spaces,
Many states are yet to fulfil the norms laid down in the Right of Children to Free and
Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009. Provision for playgrounds and construction of
boundary walls, both of which feature in the Act, exhibit the largest shortfall, with 40%
schools not having a playground and 43% not having a boundary wall. The figures for
laboratories for science-related subjects is even dismal.

B. No Furniture in many of these rural schools.

Over 10 million students sit on the floor and slouch for long hours to read and write leading
to postural issues. This slouching leads to long term defects like impaired cognitive
functioning & abnormal posture. In addition, the District Information System for Education
(DISE) data shows only 53% of total government schools, which form majority of schools in
rural India, have electricity connection. Only 28% schools (18% government schools) have a
computer and 9% (4% government schools) an internet connection. With the digital
revolution beginning to be seen in urban schools, including urban government schools, it is
likely that rural schools will miss riding the digital wave due to insufficient infrastructure.
C. No School Shoes and school uniform leading to discomfort

Millions of students don’t have access to footwear and face diseases due to unprotected feet.
Students travel long distances from their home to come to school bare feet with old/ tattered
clothing. Some of the families are so poor that they can’t afford bags, shoes and uniforms.

D. Students not sensitized on sustainability and problems of plastic pollution

Plastic pollution is a social menace and a global concern which needs to be fought against with
unwavering commitment across countries. Seldom, rural areas are the least aware on the issues of
sustainability and environment because they lack basic resources for well-being. Making this section
of the society aware and sensitized will enable grass-root behaviour change.

E. Education not engaging and inspiring to create Green Entrepreneurs of tomorrow

A World Bank study found that one in four teachers are absent at a typical government-run primary
school. Absenteeism rates were seen to be higher in low-income states of Jharkhand and Bihar, with
the former reporting a rate of 42%. In addition, the student-teacher ratio is extremely high creating
dis interest in students at an early age.

Outcomes for India

Poor employability is a direct outcome of poor education. With 70% of India’s workforce residing in
rural areas, it is rural India that will form the majority of tomorrow’s workforce. The poor quality of
infrastructure in rural schools will surely affect the employability of rural youth and our country’s
development and environmental stewardship.

Transforming Rural Education through ‘Yelo-Green Schools’

Chirag Bhandari, CEO of Ennoble Social Innovations, a social enterprise creating low cost innovative
products to solve critical social problems, is transforming the landscape of rural education in India.
YELO-GREEN school bag is their first innovation and has won several awards. With the YELO-GREEN
School project he is now on a mission to solve the global problem of lack lustre rural education while
creating a movement on Sustainability.

The vision of the company is to make 1 million students, green ambassadors by creating conducive
learning school spaces focused on sustainability across the globe.

YELO GREEN School is a unique holistic solution in which school education can be made more
conducive, fun and engaging while sensitizing kids on sustainability, leading to high attendance,
enhanced student engagement and reduced student drop-out rates. The project is a tailor-made
selection of carefully crafted initiatives to incubate sustainability while solving pertinent problems.
 A. School Beautification-

Ever wondered how depressing it would be to go to a school with leaking roofs, tattered paint and a
dilapidated roof? 70% of students study in abysmal conditions .
Schools are the temple of knowledge and should be conducive to learning in every way.
Ennoble is painting these schools and beautifying them with sustainability as its theme. This has
helped improve the infrastructure while also helping students understand and connect with
sustainability.

B. Creating playgrounds from scrap materials & industrial waste

Playing is a very important means to learn. The team is designing one of a kind play scapes using
industrial waste like oil drums, cable drums, steel cable drums and wooden pellets. Bringing in the
vital reduce, recycle and reuse concepts in upcycling of industrial waste These play scapes help bring
back play to the children who don’t have the luxury of urban playgrounds.

C. Yelo-green bag-

Schools have a critical problem of lack of availability of desks & benches Innovative eco-friendly Yelo-
Green backpack solves the posture problem of millions of kids who sit and study without furniture.
The bag comes with a sitting mat and desk which helps provide the right ergonomic posture
conducive for studying for long hours. Its unique design helps inculcate practices such as
sustainability, cleanliness, daily hygiene, menstrual hygiene among millions of students.
It helps in offsetting carbon, as it is made up of recycled materials like tyre tubes, plastic, denim and
discarded seat covers while solving the critical problem of posture.
Yelo-green bag is a facilitator to enable sustainable habit formation through its sustainability kit. The
kit has a steel bottle, tiffin box, litter bag, cloth bag, reusable menstrual pad and sanitation kit.
The methodology is that the students are provided with essential daily use items in the bag that
ensures minimise wastage and recycling.
The project helps engage with the student throughout their formative years from class 1 to 12 th and
ensure that sustainability is ingrained in their DNA.

D. Sustainability Digital Education & Projects

Sustainability education and translating the knowledge into lifestyle practices is where the digital
learning with school projects comes into play. The meticulously designed content on sustainability in
vernacular languages helps students understand relevant concepts, global scenarios and key take
away through compelling audio-visual content. There are a set of 12 curated activities which the
school students do as monthly projects to understand the practical applicability of these concepts in
day-to-day lives. These projects include initiatives on waste management, hygiene training, waste
disposal, composting, making personalised solar lamps, planting trees and creating kitchen garden.

The team also provide books with appealing graphical content which teaches about environment
through Stories to help foster reading as a habit in students and invoke sustainability awareness
through storytelling.
The unique content inculcating critical lifestyle practices through habit formation & creative learning
creates a disruptive course designed to provide hands on experience on living a sustainable life.
How you can make be a change agent?

Wondering how you can contribute to this rural education upheaval?

Whether you’re a student, business owner or home maker, you can donate your scrap so it can be
transformed to make a treasured school bag for underprivileged students. We can ensure all the
scrap that is not used doesn’t end up in land fills and oceans and is used to awaken a child’s dream.

It’s as simple as that, contribute today by giving your scrap and reducing single use plastic in your
lives to help create a world which is sustainable and not suffocating in plastic pollution. A movement
to change India, by making better lifestyle choices and empowering our youth.
(Reach out to chirag@ennoble.in for making donations)