Celebrating 50 years of the Barefoot College

Founder Sanjit 'Bunker' Roy tells us what he considers the institution's biggest achievement

The Tilonia Crafts Bazaar, an exhibition of the crafts and skills of rural artisans, was held recently in Delhi to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Social Work and Research Centre (SWRC) in Tilonia, Rajasthan, founded by Sanjit "Bunker" Roy in 1972.

Better known as the Barefoot College, SWRC selects women from the poorest villages to teach them vocational skills in solar energy, healthcare, education and handicrafts. It also provides basic health services to villagers through a team of doctors and midwives, imparts education through bridge courses and night schools, runs creches for working women, and imparts practical knowledge such as looking after sick cattle.

Roy, who was educated at Doon School, Dehradun, and St. Stephen's College, Delhi, was awarded a Padma Shri in 1986 for his work in the rural sector. Speaking to DH, Roy said he staunchly believes that urban solutions do not work for rural problems.

"My biggest learning from five decades of work at the Barefoot College is that the non-violent Gandhian principles of simplicity, austerity, equality, collective decision-making, transparency and public accountability that we adopted 50 years ago are still relevant."

"Never underestimate the power of the illiterate or the semi-literate man and women to perform miracles. At Barefoot College, poor or zero literacy levels are no barriers to learning sophisticated skills. So over 50 years, we have trained thousands of teachers, preventive health workers, solar engineers, communicators, designers, and architects spread over hundreds of villages today in India and abroad."

"The big challenge was to convince the powers that be that overqualified people are the biggest threat to development in the rural areas," said Roy "They want to maintain the status quo and don't want to see lasting mindset change nor allow the poorest of the poor to grow and contribute to the development of their villages."

It was also difficult, said Roy, to demonstrate that there are no quick fix urban solutions to rural problems.

Among Barefoot College's best-known projects are its "Solar Mamas"—village women, many of them grandmothers, from non-electrified villages worldwide, trained as solar engineers with support from the Ministry of External Affairs.

"We started this initiative in 2000, and it has been our biggest success story," said Roy. "There is no other institution anywhere in the world that trains illiterate rural women, hundreds of them, from African countries and Afghanistan to be solar engineers in six months."

Roy intends to train 1000 Solar Mamas from 90 more countries over the next five years. From 2000 to 2022, 1,708 women barefoot solar engineers were trained from villages in 15 Indian States and 96 Countries.