Energy
August 2017
Uttar Pradesh, India

A green future for the Dhara Children Academy

Helping a school to gain access to clean drinking water, electricity and set up environmental education

Power cuts made teaching in 45°C-heat, without lighting and fans, impossible.  IT lessons were inconceivable without electricity and water quality worrying.  In collaboration with the Child & Family Foundation, we wanted to improve the school's infrastructure so that lessons could run uninterrupted.  At the same time, we were able to make the children aware of how to protect the environment in their region.    

Insufficient financial investment in the educational system

Even if education is enshrined in the Indian legal syste, not all children have access to a school education and many who are able to go to school end up in schools which are already bursting at the seams and in a terrible state.

Poorer regions are often victims of this, where the lower classes live, such as Thakurdwara, 200 km north-east of Delhi, close to the border with Nepal. 

Poor children withoput education in India

A school for children of all castes in a region defined by poverty

In this region, the charitable organisation "DHARA - The Poor Child Education Support" runs the "Dhara Children Academy" and provides children in need with access to adequate schooling. 

 

 

Kinder an der Dhara Children Academy, Indien

The school's children mostly originate from the lowest caste, called 'Dalit' or "untouchables". They are often discriminated against on social and religious grounds as a result. The Dhara Children Academy's goal is to enable these children to have a successful career, thanks to adequate schooling and irrespective of which caste they may belong to. 

At the moment, some 80 and 100 children, all of different ages - ranging from nursery-age to Year 5 - are cared for and educated here.

In support of a safe and appropriate educational environment

DHARA has already achieved a great deal thanks to the creation of the "Dhara Children Academy". However, unfortunately, this is dependent on donations and thus not all projects could be run immediately.

Die Dhara Children Academy
Indische Kinder lernern auf engstem Raum
Schule in schlechtem Zustand

The building which they acquired was in a very bad state.  The pupils and teachers had to cope with power cuts multiple times a day.  This often meant, not only that the classrooms were dark, but also that the school's fridge stopped working so food stocks went off.  The computers and fans also didn't work - and at 45 °C, this is a real issue.

The water supply posed a problem.  In Summer in particular, the water has often not been treated properly, meaning it was undrinkable.

 

To provide some relief aid, we teamed up with the Child & Family Foundation and started a project to create a learning environment in which lessons could take place properly: the Child & Family Foundation financed the structural restoration of the building

 

Sustainable energy and clean water

The Greenfinity Foundation has focussed on the main topics such as energly supply and clean drinking water: The school was equipped with solar panel and a new water treatment plant.  

 

Wasserversorgung für eine Schule in Indien
Renovierung der Dhara Children Academy
Neue PV für Schule in Indien

Investing in the younger generation

Another important point was the greater focus on education around the topic of environmental protection. When piles of rubbish litter the verges, then it's worth making the local population more aware of this key topic. And this is precisely the starting point for the 'Dhara Children Academy': The introduction of classes teaching children about the importance of the environment and campaigns designed to raise awareness.  

 

Aufforsten in Indien
Müllproblematik in Indien
Müllsammelaktion in Indien
Projekt Info
Project Goals
  • Environmentally friendly, sustainable and cost-efficient energy supply for the school
  • Minimise power cuts and the school's operating costs
  • Create awareness for alternate electricity production
  • Reduce CO2 emission
Projekt Location

Dhara Children Academy (DCA), Thakurdwara, Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh, India

Project period
August 2017 – August 2018
Convenantee group

approx. 80 – 100 students at the Dhara Children Academy

Project partner

Dhara Poor Child Education Support Society