From ocean depths to mountain peaks, humans have littered the planet with tiny shards of plastic. The world is producing twice as much plastic waste as two decades ago, and the bulk of it ends up in landfills. Only a small percentage of it gets successfully recycled. However, a school in Assam is showing the way forward with its unique method of plastic recycling.
Temjen Imna Along, a politician from Nagaland, who is well-known for thought-provoking videos, shared a clip of Akshar Foundation, a school for underprivileged children that accepts only plastic as fee. Every week, the students have to bring 25 plastic bottles.
''If this doesn't surprise you, what does?'', Mr Along wrote while sharing the video.
Watch the video here:
The school was co-founded by Parmita Sharma and Mazin Mukhtar in 2016 after they observed two burning issues- too much trash and illiteracy. To solve both problems, they built a school where children can study for free if they collect plastic bottles every week. The collective plastic is then used to make bricks, roads, and even toilets. At the school, the older students teach the younger ones for which they also earn money.
In addition to traditional subjects, students learn languages, plastic recycling, carpentry, gardening, and more. The school even has a 0% drop rate.
“As we could never afford to recompense the kids like the quarries, we devised a mentorship peer-to-peer learning model, whereby older kids would tutor the younger ones, and in return get paid in toy currency notes that can be used to buy snacks, clothes, toys and shoes at local shops. As the students progress academically, their salaries increase. Our motto is ‘Learn more to earn more'. This monetary incentive has proved to be a powerful motivator for the community,” Mr Mukhtar once told The Guardian.
People were impressed with the idea and lauded the couple for the groundbreaking initiative, paving the way for both education and sustainability.
Reacting to the video, one user wrote, ''This is the most beautiful video from the Northeast. Our brothers are so talented. Great work dude.'' Another commented, ''Incredible India God bless them.''
