A Zilla Parishad (ZP) school in Gorewasti village of Madha taluka in Solapur district always had a smart TV. But it was hardly used as the school faced severe electricity shortage.
However, for the past one year, 26 students studying in this school are able to access additional audio-visual learning material on the smart-TV any time, all thanks to the solar panels set up on the school’s roof top.
Gorewasti ZP school is one of the 17 ZP and two government-aided schools from Madha taluka; for whom electricity shortage is a thing of the past now. Spread across Warawade, Paritewadi, Aahergaon, Venegaon, Akumbhe and Akole Budruk villages, all these schools have solar panels of 1kW capacity set up on their rooftops, which generate electricity more than their daily use.
Jawed Mujawar, teacher and in-charge principal at the Gorewasti ZP school, said what the school considered as challenges were actually its strengths. “We faced severe electricity shortage. Our school is located on a farmland, a bit away from the actual village, because of which we receive ample sunlight throughout the day. We are now thinking of buying a computer because it can be actually used by students and teachers,” said Mujawar.
This was a result of an initiative taken up by Ranjitsinh Disale, a teacher from a local ZP school who won the Global Teacher Award in 2020. “I conceptualised it but the funding came from Exim Bank as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility,” said Disale adding that the project is running for the past one year now and cumulatively, the schools have been able to generate close to 30,000-unit of electricity through solar panels.
“Electricity has been an issue at ZP schools. While one reason is due to their location, another is unaffordable electricity bills as ZP schools are now charged as per commercial rate. Due to this, even as many of them had facilities such as smart TV, computers etc; they were useless with no proper power supply. As the project started in ZP schools, two government-aided schools too joined in,” said Disale.
One such school is Mahatma Phule Vidyalay, located in Warawade village with 712 students. The school was spending over Rs.10,000 a month for electricity. Digambar Mhetre, a teacher from the school, said, “Explaining complex concepts in audio-visual format is far more effective than conventional classroom teaching. This is what brings many students from the village to our school because all our 13 classrooms are equipped with smart and digital devices.”
The school was forced to keep the generator ready as electricity would go any minute. “Without that, it was impossible to run a smart-classroom. But with solar-panels on rooftop, that is history now. We are hardly using the regular electricity supply these days as most of our power supply comes from the solar-panels,” said Jayram Satav, principal of the school.
