Barefoot educates more than 7,000 children each year

Barefoot emphasize a hands-on, learning-by-doing approach and focus on poor, isolated communities in order to tackle social norms regarding gender and access to education. A deep appreciation for the Rural Hero lies at the heart of our curricula, as does admiration for traditional livelihoods such as weavers, bone setters and midwives. With this combination of traditional wisdom and practical skills, we empower children to become active participants and leaders in their communities. Barefoot dentists work under the supervision of a qualified doctor for years. After practical learning, they take care of minor dental problems and dental hygiene. In serious matters, they are capable of providing first aid, before the patient reaches a doctor.

A well-knit cluster of dome-shaped structures would be a surprise in any village. In rural Rajasthan, it is a wonder. Barefoot College at Tilonia village, 100 km from Jaipur, is a wonder. Solar power lights up the entire 60,000 square feet campus. A complex network of rainwater harvesting holds the pride of place, how it was conceived and executed by a group of illiterate local architects is what’s more fascinating. The underground tank connected to the rooftops collects 400,000 litres of rainwater, enough to sustain four years of drought in Tilonia. The construction was carried out in 1986 by men and women like the illiterate architects, who made seepage-proof roofs, using locally available organic material.

There has been no leakage to date. This environmentally-friendly structure of the Social Work and Research Centre (SWRC) — less preferred to its now-famous Barefoot College tag — had received the Agha Khan Award for Architecture in 2001. However, doubts expressed by a professional architect to the selection committee on the credibility of skills of the illiterate made Barefoot College return the award, worth $50,000.

What the college counts as its reward is the ability to provide dignity to the skills and knowledge systems of the rural poor — left outside the mainstream education system, which centres around the urban settlers and their needs. Inside Barefoot College’s large airy rooms, which are not as hot as one would fear, about a dozen teachers share their special knowledge in subjects ranging from the basics of solar engineering, dentistry, mechanics and midwifery to DJing. In most classrooms, the pupils sit on the floor. All of them come from a background of poverty; some women are as old as grandmothers, a few are from Africa. No degrees are given, what has to be earned is the community’s acceptance of their work enriching lives. All learning is done by doing. Teachers and pupils try out crazy, innovative ideas and there is no age bar for admission. At times, the pupils and teachers do not share a common language and use only sign language. This unique college has been transforming the lives of the rural poor over the last four decades by making them self-reliant by improving skills in managing their needs of water, power, health, education and to some degree, employment. “Why is it that a school or hospital is called sarkari, whereas a dharamshala is owned by people? This mindset has created a lack of trust in government-run schemes among the masses,” says Ramkaran, who has been associated with SWRC since its inception. The centre began as an endeavour to help the rural people steer their own path out of poverty by combining humanitarianism and entrepreneurship. Founder Bunkar (Sunjit) Roy — educated at Delhi’s St Stephen’s College — insists on being called one of the founders along with the “Friends of Tilonia”. He recalls how a visit “out of curiosity” to Bihar during the famine in the mid-1960s changed his life. He became resolute to work for the rural poor after seeing the indescribable human suffering. His mother did not talk to him for two years when she learnt of his decision. In 1972, Roy started blasting wells in Ajmer district. It continued for five years and the Rajasthan government agreed to hand over 45 acres of semi-arid land to his centre. Its first job — a groundwater survey of 110 drought-prone villages of Silora block for the Rural Electrification Corporation — resulted in the electrification of the entire block a decade later. The hours spent interacting with peasants, who would not migrate even during a drought year, sensitised Roy about their aspirations and the inherent paradoxes of the so-called rural development schemes. At Barefoot, it was decided, the investment had to be more in people than in projects.