Turning Rural Indian Women Into Solar Engineers

"In India, 70 percent of the population lives in rural areas. A voluntary group is trying to help poor women with the help of the sun. Some 600 poor women are now experts on solar power thanks to the Barefoot College."

In India, 70 percent of the population lives in rural areas, mostly in poverty.

A voluntary group is trying to help poor women with the help of the sun. Some 600 poor women are now experts on solar power thanks to the Barefoot College, a small step towards eradicating poverty.

20-year-old Sunaina Das is going through all the components needed to make a solar lamp. She doesn’t know how to read and write... but now she’s learning to become a solar engineer.

“I’ve come here for training. I haven’t been here long, just 10 days. What I’m learning here is all new to me. Once I’ve learned everything I’ll go back to Jharkhand.”

She’s one of 25 women from Jharkhand who will spend the next 6 months learning about solar power at the Barefoot College.

The Barefoot College was set up more than 40 years ago. On the popular TEDx talk show, the college founder Bunker Roy, says they want to help women in rural communities by applying solar energy solutions.

“Food here at the Barefoot colleges is solar cooked. The people that made that solar cooker are women.. illiterate women. They actually fabricated the most sophisticated solar cooker.”

Each year, Barefoot College trains around 100 women in a 6-month solar engineering training program.  Ram Niwas is the college spokesperson.

“In Barefoot College they can learn assemble solar system and they can set up fully home light system... which is a panel on the rooftop and connected with a battery charge controller. So charge controller circuit assembly they can assemble. In the future if they know which function is not working properly, they can repair it themselves.”

They choose to teach women for a reason says Ram Niwas.

“If we train women family can get benefits through women. Especially in the rural poor area men migrate from the village to the town for a job. So men migrate while women live in the village with their family with their kids. So if we train women really village can get benefits from solar engineer technic.”

At the College, they teach the complexities of solar power with a simple technique using colors and numbers. Teacher Dasrat is illiterate. He explains how the system works.

“How do illiterate people teach illiterate people? We create our curriculum. Black is zero and red is number two and orange is number 3. So all components, all solar components, have world standard colours. So illiterate women can also understand the value of the resistance through colour.”

Sunaina now knows how to set up and maintain a solar light panel that she will put on the roof. This will allow her to install a light and battery charger in her house. She can’t wait to return home and apply her new knowledge.

“In my village, we don’t have electricity. But when the lights are installed, it will be easier for us to read and for children to study. If they can’t study at home, they won’t do well at school. For the children in particular, this will make a big difference.”

After the training, Sunaina and the other students will be given solar lighting units to electrify up to 25 households. The program will also mean savings on wood and kerosene.

• India
• women
• solar power
• engineer
• Devi Boerema