Guwahati’s Akshar to train Mumbai government school teachers

GUWAHATI, April 21: Akshar Forum, a unique school at Pamohi near Deepor Beel, on the outskirts of Guwahati won hearts across the globe for their sustainable model of teaching underprivileged children, a few years ago. Their news was all over the world when they started to accept plastic waste as school fees to teach students.

Now, another feather will be added to their cap as the school is all set to share its expertise with government schools of Maharashtra.

“We are extremely delighted and looking forward to working with five government schools in Mumbai. This will be a new experience for us as well,” Parmita Sarma, co-founder and associate director (operations) told The Assam Tribune.

As per the development, Akshar Forum will facilitate the government teachers to implement the National Education Policy (NEP) in the schools.

“We will introduce FLN worksheets, tablets, smart classes, vocational training and also incorporate peer learning and plastic collection,” she added.

The five schools are Dharavi Kala Killa Marathi School No. 2, MPS Goregaon East Transit Camp English School, Vile Parle East MPS English Medium, Anikgaon Municipal Marathi School and Mahul Gaon Municipal Marathi School.

“We have been given five schools till now for a year. We will extend the agreement, based on our performance,” Parmita said.

Now, Parmita and Co. will recruit a team to work in Mumbai. “I will train them for the first few months. One of our staff members will be promoted to a full-time trainer next month and she will be training them as well,” she explained.

Indian actor, singer and author Raageshwari Loomba who is now based in London volunteered to be on Akshar’s advisory board after seeing their work. Parmita is thankful to Raageshwari for facilitating their work go across the states. With her help, Akshar applied for the collaboration which was finally approved by the Maharashtra government after going through their work in the last several years.

“She (Raageshwari) believes in our work and wants to take this model to all schools globally. It has been an amazing association with her,” said Parmita, who holds a Master's degree in Community Organization and Development Practice from the Tata Institute of Social Science.

Looking back:

In 2016, the enterprising couple – Parmita and Mazin Mukhtar of the US started the school, Akshar Forum at Pamohi. Initially, they motivated the school dropouts from the nearby areas most of whom were from poor financial backgrounds and whose parents were in no position to pay the fees. They encouraged the kids to collect the plastic waste and submit those as fees. This formula and widely appreciated and Akshar Forum received accolades from across the globe. They gradually trained the students to recycle these plastic wastes. Now, they have 110 students.

Akshar has partnered with the Government of India to offer training and equipment, enabling government teachers in 100 Assam schools to make the switch to the Indian Education Model.

The road ahead:

“We are starting operations in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh this month and will also start working in Uttarakhand soon, apart from Mumbai,” said Parmita.

They will also reach 50 schools (currently they are in 35 schools) in Assam in the next three months.

“We want every government school in India to become sustainable schools that provide quality education along with skills to the children to prepare them for the future,” Parmita emphasized.