This Assam school accepts plastic waste as school fees
In a bid to provide free education to children and to provide them a healthy environment, a couple from Assam started a school which provides education to students in exchange of plastic waste.This school was founded in June 2016 by Mazin Mukhtar and Parmita Sarma. It began when Mazin Mukhtar arrived from New York in 2013 to work on a project which interestingly put him in touch with Parmita, who was then a social worker and aspired to work in the education sector.
Parmita helped Mazin to get accustomed to the place and helped him establish the school called ‘Akshar’.
Since most of the kids were earning members of several families and worked in the nearby stone quarries, Mazin had to design a curriculum that would fit their financial needs while giving the right kind education to them.
“We were shocked to see that these families create bonfire out of plastic waste to beat the cold during winters. Hence, we decided to start educating the community about the health hazards of burning plastic. Each child brings in at least 25 items of plastic waste per week, as their contribution to their community and the environment.” said Parmita.
The couple also started lessons on teaching the villagers on how to go about recycling waste, by creating various construction materials with plastic waste that help in creating a better infrastructure for the campus.
Akshar started with 20 kids and now has over 100 kids between the ages 4 and 15.
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