THE UJYALO IMPACT
Lighting up the future of many young students!
School is a place where we gain knowledge. One learns to be an initiator of one’s life, shaping and molding their identity. A good learning environment includes proper infrastructure, quality teaching materials, proper sanitation, and good surrounding environment. Since many young individuals spend most of their time at school, having a proper infrastructure in place is critical to enhancing their learning experiences.
At Greenland School, an educational institution in Birgunj, Nepal we noticed one of these infrastructure missing—some of the classrooms were poorly lit even during the day due to the lack of proper natural lighting source. Electricity was used to light up these classrooms but daily power cut was affecting the supply of electricity, hence keeping the rooms dark during the day. This inconsistent supply of electricity was affecting the quality of education and overall learning experience of the students. When Greenland School learned about Project Ujyalo, it decided to use the “solar-bottle-bulb” as a source of lighting system for these classrooms.
During the post evaluation of the project in Birgunj, we got a chance to speak with the Vice Principal, Rupendra Pandit of Greenland School, about their experience after the installation of “solar-bottle-bulbs” in three classrooms at the school. The cheap installation cost and long-term benefits are the two things the school is most satisfied about. After the installation of “solar-bottle-bulbs”, the school is now saving up to 18-20 units of electricity monthly, which is approximately Rs. 200-250 saved per month. Apart from saving money, the lighting system has also served as a real world example to the kids about different types of innovations and the concept of recycling. Furthermore, Project Ujyalo is not only providing cheap and sustainable lighting systems with the help of these plastic bottles, but in many ways is also teaching these young minds to think out of the box!