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The policy of the Barefoot College is to take women from the poorest of villages and teach them to become professionals without requiring them to read or write. In extreme cases, there are students without verbal fluency in the languages of their teachers.<ref>http://www.barefootcollege.org/</ref> It is the only school with such a policy, as well as the only school in India that is entirely solar-powered. Keeping with the principles of the Barefoot College, solar panels were installed by a Hindu priest with only eight years of schooling, and many of the builders were themselves illiterate.<ref>{{cite DVD-notes |title=Altruism and Compassion in Economic Systems |titlelink=Altruism and Compassion in Economic Systems |titleyear=2010 |director= |format= |publisher=Mind and Life Institute |location=Zurich, Switzerland |publisherid= |year=2010 |language=English }}</ref> The policy of the Barefoot College is to take women from the poorest of villages and teach them to become professionals without requiring them to read or write. In extreme cases, there are students without verbal fluency in the languages of their teachers.<ref>http://www.barefootcollege.org/</ref> It is the only school with such a policy, as well as the only school in India that is entirely solar-powered. Keeping with the principles of the Barefoot College, solar panels were installed by a Hindu priest with only eight years of schooling, and many of the builders were themselves illiterate.<ref>{{cite DVD-notes |title=Altruism and Compassion in Economic Systems |titlelink=Altruism and Compassion in Economic Systems |titleyear=2010 |director= |format= |publisher=Mind and Life Institute |location=Zurich, Switzerland |publisherid= |year=2010 |language=English }}</ref>

==Criticism==
The Barefoot College has attracted a lot of criticism in recent years. The founder of the institution "Bunker Roy" claims before the entire world that his college was designed by local people without consulting any urban architects<ref>Barefoot College Campus (http://www.barefootcollege.org/barefoot-approach/campus-life/)</ref><ref>WIPO Magazine (http://www.wipo.int/wipo_magazine/en/2009/03/article_0002.html)</ref><ref>International Symposium on Lifelong Learning (http://www.ied.edu.hk/isll/Download%20Files/Panel1_%20Mr_Sanjit_Bumker_Roy.pdf)</ref> and the buildings were fully solar electrified by a hindu priest with only eight years of education in a primary school in rural India.<ref>Solar Electrification of Barefoot College(http://www.80hommes.com/80portraits/AboutBC.pdf)</ref> Empirical evidence collected from the Barefoot College provides concrete proof against the claims of the founder. </br></br>

The Barefoot College was designed by a qualified architect named ] from the prestigious (SPA), New Delhi. It was constructed during the years 1986 - 1989 with materials sourced locally and from the commercial market. The construction of the Barefoot College was supervised by an educated worker of the Barefoot College named . Satyen interpreted Neehar's architectural blueprints for the construction workers who did not know how to read and write, but contributed in building the infrastructure. Barefoot College claimed credit for designing the campus by misrepresenting facts before the Aga Khan Foundation.<ref>Frontline, December 2001(http://www.frontlineonnet.com/fl1825/18250950.htm)</ref> In 2002, the Aga Khan Foundation changed the citation of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture looking at the evidence provided by the designer of the Barefoot College, Neehar Raina.<ref>Sebastian, Sunny, , '']'', Volume 15 (Issue 16), July 20 – August 02, 2002 (retrieved on 10 January 2012).</ref></br></br>

The solar electrification of Barefoot College was initiated by Barefoot College under the supervision of a qualified electronics engineer named "Kiran Sindhu" <ref>TED Comment (http://www.ted.com/talks/bunker_roy.html?c=345163)</ref>. Kiran provided professional assistance towards designing the electronics for the solar lighting equipment, capacity planning and building competency in the local community to maintain the solar infrastructure. The solar cooker fabricated at the Barefoot College was invented by the renowned Austrian engineer ]<ref>Introduction to Revolutionary Design of Sheffler Reflectors (http://so-on.be/SO-ON/films/MASA/Wolfgang_Scheffler.pdf)</ref><ref>Sheffler Community Kitchen (http://solarcooking.wikia.com/Scheffler_Community_Kitchen)</ref> who has been visiting Barefoot College since 2003.<ref>Solar Engineers (http://opengreens.net/tag/solar-engineers)</ref><ref>Barefoot College - Bringers of Hope (http://eng.esperrance.org/index.php/post/2010/10/07/Barefoot-College)</ref> Barefoot Women Engineers fabricate the solar cookers as specified in Sheffler's blueprints, with whom they still collaborate and improve the reflectors and machinery when needed.<ref>Solar Engineers (http://opengreens.net/tag/solar-engineers)</ref> Barefoot College plagiarizes the work of Wolfgang Sheffler<ref>India Plugins into Low Cost Solar Technology (http://www.hqsolar.com.cn/en/NewsView.asp?ID=48)</ref> by claiming that barefoot women engineers learnt how to design the solar cooker by reading books that showed how to create a mechanism that worked like a sundial.<ref>Luminous People of the Barefoot College (http://sanjeevshankar.com/pdf/Barefoot%20college%20india_FoAM,%20Brussels.pdf)</ref></br></br>

Barefoot College has spent millions of dollars for deploying solar panels in Asia, Africa and South America. But there is little information on the true cost of its solar electrification program. In 2007, a UNDP team mandated with evaluating the impact of the Barefoot Solar Engineer program in Ethiopia, found major issues with the scalability of the program.<ref>Ethiopia UNDP Final Evaluation Report (http://erc.undp.org/evaluationadmin/downloaddocument.html?docid=1941)</ref> The UNDP team found that the cost of providing solar lighting was unreasonably high (US$ 920.45 / household) and the methodology of training illiterate / semi-literate community members to be Solar Engineers was not achieving the desired results. The UNDP team concluded that training illiterate / semi-literate community members at the Barefoot College was not cost effective and the same training could be imparted in-country at substantially lower cost and within a shorter period of time.</br></br>

There are no verifiable statistics on the average working life of the solar lighting equipment assembled and installed by the Barefoot Solar Engineers. In India, the Ministry of New and Non Renewable Energy Sources (MNRE) specifies standards for solar lighting equipment<ref>Technical Specifications for Compact Fluorescent Lamp (CFL) based Solar Photovoltaic Lighting Systems (http://mnre.gov.in/file-manager/UserFiles/cfl_spls_2012_13.pdf)</ref> and solar cookers<ref>Minimum Technical Specifications of Dish Solar Cookers(http://mnre.gov.in/file-manager/UserFiles/specifications_dish_solar_cookers.pdf)</ref>. Solar lighting equipment and solar cookers manufactured by the Barefoot Solar Engineer often fail to meet the standard specified by MNRE.<ref>A visit to Barefoot College (http://genportal.in/a-visit-to-barefoot-college)</ref> MNRE specifications mandate that solar lighting equipment should work without problems for a minimum of 5 years. There is no evidence that solar lighting equipment manufactured by Barefoot Solar Engineers are free from manufacturing defects and work uninterrupted for a minimum of 5 years.</br></br>


==Cross-cultural collaboration== ==Cross-cultural collaboration==

Revision as of 16:06, 16 November 2012

Public school in Tilonia, Rajasthan, India
Barefoot College
Location
Tilonia, Rajasthan
India
Information
TypePublic
Established1972
FounderBunker Roy
Faculty10
Enrollment400
CampusVillage
Websitewww.barefootcollege.org

Barefoot College, known as Social Work and Research Centre, is a non-governmental organization founded by Bunker Roy in 1972. It is a solar-powered school that teaches illiterate women from impoverished Indian villages to become doctors, solar engineers, architects, and other such professions. The school is located at Tilonia village, Rajasthan, India. It serves a population of over 125,000 people. There are now 20 such colleges in 13 states in India.

Founder's philosophy

The organization was established to solve grave problems like drinking water quality, female education, health and sanitation, rural unemployment, income generation, electricity and power, as well as social awareness and the conservation of ecological systems in rural India. Bunker Roy, born to an upper middle-class Indian family, received what he described as a "very snobbish, elitist, expensive education," which he believes imparts arrogance without providing the kind of practical knowledge needed in poor villages. His decision to leave the city for the village estranged him from his parents, furthering his conviction that "such an education can destroy you."

The policy of the Barefoot College is to take women from the poorest of villages and teach them to become professionals without requiring them to read or write. In extreme cases, there are students without verbal fluency in the languages of their teachers. It is the only school with such a policy, as well as the only school in India that is entirely solar-powered. Keeping with the principles of the Barefoot College, solar panels were installed by a Hindu priest with only eight years of schooling, and many of the builders were themselves illiterate.

Criticism

The Barefoot College has attracted a lot of criticism in recent years. The founder of the institution "Bunker Roy" claims before the entire world that his college was designed by local people without consulting any urban architects and the buildings were fully solar electrified by a hindu priest with only eight years of education in a primary school in rural India. Empirical evidence collected from the Barefoot College provides concrete proof against the claims of the founder.

The Barefoot College was designed by a qualified architect named Neehar Raina from the prestigious School of Planning and Architecture (SPA), New Delhi. It was constructed during the years 1986 - 1989 with materials sourced locally and from the commercial market. The construction of the Barefoot College was supervised by an educated worker of the Barefoot College named Satyen Chaturvedi. Satyen interpreted Neehar's architectural blueprints for the construction workers who did not know how to read and write, but contributed in building the infrastructure. Barefoot College claimed credit for designing the campus by misrepresenting facts before the Aga Khan Foundation. In 2002, the Aga Khan Foundation changed the citation of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture looking at the evidence provided by the designer of the Barefoot College, Neehar Raina.

The solar electrification of Barefoot College was initiated by Barefoot College under the supervision of a qualified electronics engineer named "Kiran Sindhu" . Kiran provided professional assistance towards designing the electronics for the solar lighting equipment, capacity planning and building competency in the local community to maintain the solar infrastructure. The solar cooker fabricated at the Barefoot College was invented by the renowned Austrian engineer Wolfgang Scheffler who has been visiting Barefoot College since 2003. Barefoot Women Engineers fabricate the solar cookers as specified in Sheffler's blueprints, with whom they still collaborate and improve the reflectors and machinery when needed. Barefoot College plagiarizes the work of Wolfgang Sheffler by claiming that barefoot women engineers learnt how to design the solar cooker by reading books that showed how to create a mechanism that worked like a sundial.

Barefoot College has spent millions of dollars for deploying solar panels in Asia, Africa and South America. But there is little information on the true cost of its solar electrification program. In 2007, a UNDP team mandated with evaluating the impact of the Barefoot Solar Engineer program in Ethiopia, found major issues with the scalability of the program. The UNDP team found that the cost of providing solar lighting was unreasonably high (US$ 920.45 / household) and the methodology of training illiterate / semi-literate community members to be Solar Engineers was not achieving the desired results. The UNDP team concluded that training illiterate / semi-literate community members at the Barefoot College was not cost effective and the same training could be imparted in-country at substantially lower cost and within a shorter period of time.

There are no verifiable statistics on the average working life of the solar lighting equipment assembled and installed by the Barefoot Solar Engineers. In India, the Ministry of New and Non Renewable Energy Sources (MNRE) specifies standards for solar lighting equipment and solar cookers. Solar lighting equipment and solar cookers manufactured by the Barefoot Solar Engineer often fail to meet the standard specified by MNRE. MNRE specifications mandate that solar lighting equipment should work without problems for a minimum of 5 years. There is no evidence that solar lighting equipment manufactured by Barefoot Solar Engineers are free from manufacturing defects and work uninterrupted for a minimum of 5 years.

Cross-cultural collaboration

One program of the Barefoot College brings women from villages in rural Africa (which do not have electricity) to the Barefoot College. They are then trained by local Indian women at the Barefoot College. At the end of their training, they return to Africa with new skills that allow them to install solar electricity in their villages. The college also worked in a similar project in Afghanistan.

Awards

External links

References

  1. http://www.barefootcollege.org/
  2. Altruism and Compassion in Economic Systems (Media notes). Zurich, Switzerland: Mind and Life Institute. 2010. {{cite AV media notes}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |director= and |publisherid= (help); Unknown parameter |titlelink= ignored (|title-link= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |titleyear= ignored (help)
  3. http://www.barefootcollege.org/
  4. Altruism and Compassion in Economic Systems (Media notes). Zurich, Switzerland: Mind and Life Institute. 2010. {{cite AV media notes}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |director= and |publisherid= (help); Unknown parameter |titlelink= ignored (|title-link= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |titleyear= ignored (help)
  5. Barefoot College Campus (http://www.barefootcollege.org/barefoot-approach/campus-life/)
  6. WIPO Magazine (http://www.wipo.int/wipo_magazine/en/2009/03/article_0002.html)
  7. International Symposium on Lifelong Learning (http://www.ied.edu.hk/isll/Download%20Files/Panel1_%20Mr_Sanjit_Bumker_Roy.pdf)
  8. Solar Electrification of Barefoot College(http://www.80hommes.com/80portraits/AboutBC.pdf)
  9. Frontline, December 2001(http://www.frontlineonnet.com/fl1825/18250950.htm)
  10. Sebastian, Sunny, "An award controversy", Frontline, Volume 15 (Issue 16), July 20 – August 02, 2002 (retrieved on 10 January 2012).
  11. TED Comment (http://www.ted.com/talks/bunker_roy.html?c=345163)
  12. Introduction to Revolutionary Design of Sheffler Reflectors (http://so-on.be/SO-ON/films/MASA/Wolfgang_Scheffler.pdf)
  13. Sheffler Community Kitchen (http://solarcooking.wikia.com/Scheffler_Community_Kitchen)
  14. Solar Engineers (http://opengreens.net/tag/solar-engineers)
  15. Barefoot College - Bringers of Hope (http://eng.esperrance.org/index.php/post/2010/10/07/Barefoot-College)
  16. Solar Engineers (http://opengreens.net/tag/solar-engineers)
  17. India Plugins into Low Cost Solar Technology (http://www.hqsolar.com.cn/en/NewsView.asp?ID=48)
  18. Luminous People of the Barefoot College (http://sanjeevshankar.com/pdf/Barefoot%20college%20india_FoAM,%20Brussels.pdf)
  19. Ethiopia UNDP Final Evaluation Report (http://erc.undp.org/evaluationadmin/downloaddocument.html?docid=1941)
  20. Technical Specifications for Compact Fluorescent Lamp (CFL) based Solar Photovoltaic Lighting Systems (http://mnre.gov.in/file-manager/UserFiles/cfl_spls_2012_13.pdf)
  21. Minimum Technical Specifications of Dish Solar Cookers(http://mnre.gov.in/file-manager/UserFiles/specifications_dish_solar_cookers.pdf)
  22. A visit to Barefoot College (http://genportal.in/a-visit-to-barefoot-college)
  24. "List of Awardees". Ministry of Environment and Forests.
  25. Barefoot College wins Ashden Award


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