Execution

Most schools in rural India lack basic facilities. Students don’t even have desks to write upon. They sit hunched on the floor for hours. This gives them bad posture, poor eyesight and bad handwriting. NGO Arambh wanted an easy and economical solution. TG – School children in rural India. We needed a cost-effective solution. First, we decided to use discarded cartons for raw material. For this, we approached corporate houses and retail outlets. Using these, we then created Help Desks – a folding desk that could also be used as a bag. And it cost less than 20 cents per piece. For Aarambh, this cost-effective solution made the task easy and helped them reach thousands of children in hundreds of rural schools. For children, it solved a very inconvenient problem and gave them not just a desk but also a bag. Media Execution Our media team made the most of this cost-effective idea. Corporate offices and retail outlets who are generally reluctant to give big donations, happily donated their used cartons. The team went to over 200 corporate houses, retail outlets and recyclers to collect used cartons. Using a pre-set stencil design they were cut and folded to create Help Desks. Then, these portable desks were distributed in many schools in rural India. The team worked really hard to reach maximum number of rural kids. They tried to cover every school in various villages. Because of their effort thousands of children in rural India now study more comfortable and cheerfully using Help Desk. Results and Effectiveness We distributed Help Desks in over 600 schools in villages. Now, around 10,000 kids in rural India write with ease. They study more comfortably and cheerfully. It is also easy for them to walk to school as it helps them carry their books. Also, there has been a significant increase in the number of children attending schools regularly. With a desk under their laps, a bag over their shoulders, life at school is a lot more fun.