Akshar – A Unique school in Guwahati

Have you ever heard of a school that charges a fee for collecting plastics?

Akshar school in Pamohi village, Guwahati, Assam, where pupils pay plastics as a fee in exchange for an education. The school only accepts a polythene bag full of plastic rubbish as payment.

Akshar is a model school that provides quality education to children from economically disadvantaged families. Parmita Sarma and Mazin Muktar launched the company in 2016. They began by providing free education in the community, but they soon found a high use of plastics in the area, and locals had developed a practise of burning plastics to stay warm during the winter.

Because of smoke from burning plastic, their classroom used to be filled with those hazardous vapours at times. As a result, they established a pricing structure in which students pay for their education by bringing 10–20 pounds of plastic debris to school each week. Students were taught how to successfully recycle plastic garbage, how to manufacture eco-bricks, and have already constructed a plant guarder in their school grounds.

They use a different format than the one used throughout India. There are both traditional and vocational subjects available. They instruct children on how to instruct.Higher-class students teach the school’s younger students, and they also receive a reward money, similar to that used in video games, that allows them to shop at the school store. The school has raised awareness about the dangers of plastic and transformed the thinking of the students’ families. Their class classification is based on IQ level rather than age, and students are taught lessons depending on their IQ level. They intend to grow Akshar School throughout India.