A school principal in Jharkhand has prodded his students to produce chalks, mats and brooms as a practice of being Atmanirbhar or self-reliant
Bengaluru: Self-reliance or being Atmanirbhar is a trait which we all need to practise to reduce dependency on others.
And who better to preach it than a school principal?
Well, Sapan Kumar, the principal of ‘Utkramit Madhya Vidyalalya’ at Dumarthar village in Dumka, Jharkhand has done just that.
After realising that chalks, mats and brooms are costly to be purchased, he trained his students to manufacture them, thereby giving them an opportunity to learn as well as increase their responsibility.
He says, as quoted by The New Indian Express, “I found it too expensive to buy chalks. Therefore, I started looking for an alternative. After brainstorming for a few days, I decided to produce it on our own as it was not very difficult to get the raw materials.”
He further adds, “Now, the children are producing more than 200 chalks every day. Similarly, every child needs a mat to sit outside their houses. These mats are made using palm leaves”.
Though the classes take place, every possible care is being taken to ensure social distancing is not compromised with.
It is also pertinent to note that the same principal had come up with another brilliant concept of converting walls in the village to black boards so that every student could use it.
This initiative was taken up to counter the fact that online education was not a feasible idea owing to the want of smartphones and the poorness in not affording them.
“As most of the children do not have access to smartphones due to which they were not getting benefits of Digi-Sath (Online classes on WhatsApp), we were facing problems in teaching them. Given the fact that the future of 295 children was at stake, I was not able to sleep properly. All of a sudden, it came in my mind that why not go their doorstep and teach them there,” he had said, as quoted by the New Indian Express.
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