Reader’s Digest India – July 2019

PLASTICS AS FEES

EDUCATION This school accepts plastic

only—quite literally. In fact, it

welcomes plastic waste as school fees,

to be precise. Ever since Akshar

Forum was founded in 2016 by Mazin

Mukhtar and Parmita Sarma in

Guwahati, it has been unique in

multiple ways. It collects 20 plastic

items per week as school fees. “We

never charged any fees, but thought of

collecting plastic waste from our

students’ households and recycling

it,” says Mukhtar. Akshar collects

around 10,000 plastic items per week,

according to Mukhtar. The couple has

now been approached by the Delhi

government to replicate the ‘plastics

as fees’ model in the capital.

Since their students are from

underprivileged backgrounds,

Akshar Forum balances practical

skills with learning in its curriculum:

It combines carpentry with

mathematics, solar technology

with physics and recycling with

ecology. The school also runs an

animal shelter within the campus

where the students are involved.

Here’s a school that has its heart in

the right place.

GOOD NEWS

for a

Better Planet

36 july 2019

(Left) Students of

Akshar Forum with

their ‘fees’; (right)

founders Sarma

and Mukhtar

Above: AkshA

r FoundA

tion, r

ight: Anil mistry