Barefoot Solar - the village community that train illiterate grandmothers from around the world to become solar power engineers for their own communities
College helps to bring electricity to villages around the globe by training poor women to be solar engineers.
We wanted to start a college with a difference, where people were not penalized because they were illiterate
It is the Harvard of rural India, minus wingtips or heels: a 50-year-old institution called Barefoot College that offers lessons for empowe
The illiterates of the 21st century are not those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn and relearn
Eight women from rural Malawi travelled to India to train as solar engineers. Now they are lighting the way for their communities
Barefoot College takes illiterate villagers — most of them Dalits or women — and trains them in technical skills such as solar panel installation. With funding from foundations, donations and the Indian government, the college also runs literacy classes, health campaigns, a water resources department, study centers and a sanitary pad factory.
“There are millions of people who are illiterate, and they have much to contribute,” Roy said.
This photo gallery looks at a project that’s introducing electricity to remote areas by training local technicians.
Our children are able to study at night, people are able to get work done at night, she said, on the sidelines of the International Governm
