Going to School

It was 33°C when sixteen young entrepreneurs, who were there to pitch for support to start businesses that solve for Climate Change, 10 judges with expertise in clean energy, farming and education, who were there to listen, and 250 young people from Government Schools arrived at the Dr Kalam Agricultural College in Kishanganj, Bihar.

Greeted by drums, we all arrived, signed in, took photos, and went into the auditorium. It was cooler inside. Sixteen entrepreneurs took the stage, one by one. The rules were simple. Everyone has one minute to present. Then it was over to the judges who were sitting in the front row to ask kind (and sometimes sticky) questions in 30 seconds. Like Shark-Tank, ours was kinder, a rural River-Dolphin meeting. We were keeping time with a bell.

Khushnuma, age 20, plans to collect discarded rice sacks and upcycle them into stitched shopping and packaging bags “I want to make bags that are stronger and last longer than plastic, that can be used by families and farmers where I live.”

Sabanisar, age 25, is sure he wants to start a vermi-compost business “Because you can’t buy it and no and no one is making it in the 20 km radius of where I live, I’ve taken a course, I know how to make it, and I’ve already signed up 50 farmers who’d like to buy my organic compost.”

Kaseda, age 22, plans to start organic vegetable farming. “I want to grow vegetables without chemicals and sell them directly in the market, and I also want to learn new methods like hydroponics that take less space and water.”

Imran, age 22, has already been making notebooks and now, with our sustainable climate change theme, he wants to make them from scrap paper “I’ve already made notebooks for school children from scrap-paper and am able to sell them for 1/3 of the price, that’s important for children and families where I live”

Entrepreneurs pitched, judges asked good questions, we took notes, now the young people who presented are working further on their plans, to ensure they have the skills, a Plan B for the off-season and expert insights from experienced entrepreneurs to make their enterprises a success. In our next report, a series of stories, we’ll be able to share how the young people did their research and how they are on track to becoming role models for young people in Grade 11 and 12 Government schools in Kishanganj, young people who were in the audience today.

Ashtraya Hastha Trust supports Going to School to deliver Climate Change Education to young people in Schools in Kishanganj and in the same school communities, to support young people age 18+ to start-up to become entrepreneurs solving for Climate Change, transforming entire communities.
Ashraya Hastha Trust

Kaveri goes to school in a Government School in Bengaluru. She’s in Grade 8.

Kaveri’s ‘vision for the future’, the 2024 theme for the International Day of the Girl, is a city where girls use the digital skills they’ve learned in the Outdoor School for Girls to get green jobs and start green enterprises.

Kaveri believes in the future, girls at school and women at work, will design solutions based on their own action research, mining data they’ve unearthed independently to analyze it online.

Kaveri tells us that girls and women will use technology to design and start enterprises to solve for Climate Change, enabling birds, bees, trees, bugs and everyone to co-exist in India’s mega cities.

The Outdoor School for Girls runs in Mumbai & Bengaluru in partnership with BT and BAT.

Through MOUs with state and city Governments, girls in Grade 5-10 Government Schools learn digital skills through girl-hero led stories, team board games & independent action research offline, outside.

At school, Going to School teams bring PrimeBooks, laptops, to enable girls to continue their research online through data analytics, perfecting their digital skills and sharing their project research outcomes with us.

Blending the power of play, sport, team sports to equip girls with the physical and mental skills they need to solve for the biggest challenges of our time, on alternate days she plays football, because when it comes to solving the challenges for girls, women, the city and the planet, you need to be both physically and mentally strong.

BTBritish Asian Trust