Energizing Education

Watch how setting up a solar system drives enrolment rates among girl students.

Light a school and empower a girl

Indian parents, across all income groups, put an emphasis on education. They scrimp and save what they can to send their kids to private schools with the aim of providing them a head start in life. When they do not have enough and it comes to making a choice they send their son to a private school and their daughter to a public school.

Indian companies can help upgrade the public school infrastructure. Large companies in India are mandated by law to use 2% of their profits for projects that benefit the society. A recent report by Samhita Social Ventures, found out that a whopping 89 out of the 100 companies surveyed supported education and considered it high priority.

Providing the public schools with solar electricity should be an easy thing to do. There are two reasons why:

1. Clean energy products are evolving while costs are declining: For example, the Cygni DC solar system, sponsored by Verizon, and the lights and fans that come along with it, costs about the same amount (INR 25,000) as a mid-range smart phone in India. This efficient system requires much smaller panels and batteries.
2. Public school teachers we met were committed individuals. One of them went home to home asking parents to send their kids to school. Their argument was strengthened with the class rooms more brightly lit and the fans were whirling.

Two little girls from the primary school at Keshya thanda, Nalgonda, Telangana

Committed as they are it will be unfair to expect public school teachers to learn about solar solutions and identify reliable vendors. NGOs should partner with solar solution providers and aggregate these projects, district by district. Companies should signal their interest by issuing request for proposals. If the three parties come together, it should not be that difficult to energize primary education in India.

This video was made with support from USAID and the Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship under an energy access program. For more information about clean energy access, the technology, benefits and video documentation, write to feli.visco@regainparadise.com