It has been reported that our planet is currently facing the highest amount of greenhouse gas in the atmosphere than it has ever experienced throughout the entire existence of homosapiens. It seems that once we started to realize we are literally witnessing a catastrophe in front of our eyes, we started to look for positive initiatives that can change the tragic current state that we are living in. But instead of concentrating on the negative, let’s take a look at something that is striving to do the best for people and the planet, shall we?
In an interview with Bored Panda, the co-founder of the school, Mazin Mukhtar, told us that he came up with the idea with his wife after they met in New York back in 2013. “We were both already dreaming of starting a new kind of school specifically designed for children in poverty. We formed Akshar that same year we met and we started our school, Akshar Forum, in 2016.
When we started the recycling center, parents were not cooperative at first. So we came up with the “Plastic School Fees” idea to compel the parents to recycle. The school was free for years before we started that policy. In reality, it’s more like mandatory homework than school fees but calling it plastic school fees serves to remind the parents: the school is entirely free but the least you can do is help us and help yourselves by sending your clean, dry plastic waste from home.”
“We wanted to start a free school for all but stumbled upon this idea after we realized a larger social and ecological problem brewing in this area. I still remember how our classrooms would be filled with toxic fumes every time someone in the nearby areas would burn plastics. Here, it was the norm to burn waste plastic to keep warm. We wanted to change that and so started to encourage our students to bring their plastic waste as school fees,” said one of the school founders, Parmita Sarma.