The Barefoot College gets its name because staying barefoot is customary in most Indian villages, Tilonia included. Three decades back, Tilonia was like thousands of other impoverished villages in India’s drought-prone regions. Now it is a fine example of how local people can use their own skills to meet their own needs and manage their own resources. The Barefoot College is the catalyst and leader of this change.

‘Unemployable’ rural youth now work as barefoot drillers, civil engineers, chemists, solar panel maintenance technicians, teachers, traditional communicators and midwives. To elaborate on one example, 573 rural youth, who have not studied beyond primary school, have been trained in the maintenance of hand pumps to provide safe drinking water. These barefoot mechanics look after the upkeep of over 15,000 hand pumps serving 3.7 million people in the desert.

Additionally, 200 tanks have been constructed: they store nearly 1.5 crore (one crore = 10 million liters) of rainwater. Over 660 acres of wasteland in Rajasthan have been revitalized with the help of the local communities. Traditional fuel and fodder species have been planted to prevent deserts from growing.

Using traditional media like glove puppets, nearly 940 annual performances highlight environmental issues in villages: they have reached out to over 300,000 people. The Barefoot College has also incorporated storylines that depict issues like money lending, indebtedness, the issue of untouchability and other related socio-economic problems. The first environmental walk in the history of Rajasthan was organized by the Barefoot College. Passing through 64 villages, using street plays, puppet shows and village theatre, 30,000 people were told of the importance of conserving and preserving the environment.

As the years passed, over three decades, the activities of the Barefoot College crossed interstate boundaries. There are now 21 ‘Tilonias’ all over India (the latest group is headed by a teacher in Bodoland, Assam). All of them have emulated the same principles and all of them have been initiated by ‘graduates’ of the Barefoot College.

240 rural primary schools located in brackish water areas harvest rainwater. About 100 night schools are run for children who have to work for a living during the day. 300 Adult Education Centers in eight states of India were solar electrified for the first time, saving 35,000 liters of fossil fuels. The Barefoot experiments in water supply are also to be seen at heights of over 15,000 feet in the Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir; at temperatures of -40°C.

The college itself is an unpretentious indication of the new world beyond. Tilonia is a small village about 175 kilometers away from Rajasthan’s fabled capital city of Jaipur. Dry, dusty winds sweep in from the desert. Singed skin, parched throat, cracked nostrils and burning eyes look for relief. All around there is barren terrain marked only by a few valiant shrubs. The signboards are faded but then, the Barefoot College needs no introduction in this part of the country. The Barefoot College is the rarest of institutions. It brings out the best in fellow human beings whose native skills and wisdom are usually discounted and ignored. It respects human values, traditional practices and rural communities.

The entire campus runs on solar energy, the first in India to be so constructed. The Barefoot College has Internet connectivity, telephone lines and the first village post office in India to have a Speed Post courier service. A cluster of stone masonry offers cool refuge. Bhanwar, with years of experience in building village dwellings, ‘designed’ the 30,000 square feet of this desert campus.

Those who are a part of the Barefoot College draw only statutory minimum wages, even if they have worked here for decades. Accounts are completely transparent and anyone can ask, and get, records for all income and expenditure.

Everybody at the Barefoot College lives and eats together. Visitors queue up for simple meals of roti (unleavened bread), dal (lentils), chaval (rice) and subzi (vegetables). They wash their own plates with water from a hand pump. The toilets have signs that say water should not be wasted. Accommodation is austere. Equality is non-negotiable here.

Says S.Srinivasan, one of the co-coordinators who has made Tilonia his home for the past three decades, "Those who are looking for money or status or position or wish to flaunt their degrees are not welcome at Barefoot College. People in this college clean their own clothes, sweep their own floors and do voluntary work to keep the campus clean. This place harbors the spirit of a Gandhian ashram. We view the worth of people as human beings. Their ideas, values, humanity and compassion are what we look for. Everyone is both a student and a teacher. So the process of learning is continuous, all 24 hours of a day, every day of the year."

It’s a college where no degrees, no diplomas and no testimonials are given. Says Bunker Roy, founder of the Barefoot College, who has been distinguished with several awards, "This is because the poor, the marginalized, the exploited and the forgotten have no use for these paper qualifications. They have knowledge, skills and practical wisdom of their own that needs no certification. It has stood the test of time. Why is there any need for a certification from ‘outside’? What happens here is a sharing of knowledge between those with traditional knowledge and those who are the so-called ‘professionals’. This has made Tilonia, and the many other Tilonias that have followed this example, self-reliant sustainable units."

A Children’s Parliament

Members of the Children's Parliament

The night schools of the Barefoot College have established the first children’s parliament in the country. In an effort to expose children to the power of democracy, the rule of law and equality, and to choose proper candidates on merit, an election is held periodically where 3,000 children vote to elect the Members of Parliament for the Bal Sansad (the Children’s Parliament). The MPs’ job is to see that teachers come on time, that all schools have adequate teaching aids, that there is enough drinking water for all, and to enroll more children who do not come to school. The meeting of the Cabinet is a serious affair, not to be taken lightly. A Prime Minister is also elected - he or she has the authority to inspect and evaluate any school, amongst other things. One child, who attempted to become PM by distributing sweets, was strongly criticized by the rest!

Mangi Devi, the matriarch whose deeply lined face makes it difficult to determine her age, speaks in a Rajasthani dialect of Hindi, "I came here as a young bride. In those days I could not speak up. But I wanted to work. I was not educated but that did not matter here. Children must learn, not just be educated. When we started, it was very difficult to convince people that girls must be educated. Now we have 70% girls in our night schools. We are all in this together. We are in charge. We take care of the accounts and administration. Nobody can cheat us. There is no job that cannot be done."

She continues, "What does a village child know about helicopters? We have made our own textbooks. We have an adapted curriculum; it deals with village level issues but also educates us about things like environment and conservation. Facilities in schools are made under the supervision of people’s committees. Women here must walk two kilometers in the burning sun to fetch water. We don’t have time for idle chit chat. For us, knowledge is power. Our life should not be dictated by literacy or illiteracy but by making the most of opportunities."

Health and Happiness

Megh Raj, who comes from Chotanarna, a village 15 kilometers away from Tilonia, runs the ‘hospital’ at the Barefoot College. This four-bed facility has a pathology lab that can test urine and sputum, has eight field centers and has trained 75 dais (midwives) in vaccinations and deliveries. Says Megh Raj, "Before, dais would cut umbilical chords with anything, make women in labor lie down on a bed of ash and so on. We are not saying that all old practices are wrong - they have a wealth of understanding about traditional diets, diagnosing crises and assisting in deliveries in various ways. But we have been able to train them in better ways - our dais now have sterilized kits with everything from gloves to rubber sheets to scissors to disposable items like gauze, thread and blades (for cutting umbilical chords). They have been taught the importance of vaccination for pregnant women and newborn babies, and iron supplements for anemic mothers. Infant mortality rate has come down. When we first came here, tuberculosis was prevalent. But education in hygienic practices has reduced its incidence. Where there is health there is happiness."

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Lalitha Sridhar is a Chennai-based freelance journalist keenly interested in development issues. Your emails will be forwarded to her by contacting the editor at: ScienceTech@islam-online.net

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