The Barefoot College

The Barefoot College began in 1972 with the conviction that solutions to rural problems lie within the community.

The College addresses problems of drinking water, income generation, electricity and power, as well as social awareness and the conservation of ecological systems in rural communities.

The College benefits the poorest of the poor who have no alternatives.

The College encourages practical knowledge and skills rather than paper qualifications through a learning by doing process of education.

The College, spread over a 60,000 square feet area consisting of residences, a library, dining room, meeting halls, marketing outlets, an open air theatre, solar fabrication workshop, water testing laboratory, an audio-visual unit, handicraft production centre, a puppet workshop and theatre, a blacksmith's workshop and a 400,000 litre rain water harvesting tank, was entirely built and supervised by local people.

The College serves a population of over 100,000 people both in immediate as well as distant areas.

For more information see http://www.barefootcollege.org/ or http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/audiovideo/programmes/crossing_continents/newsid_1723000/1723539.stm