School without walls

Indian Trusts, Act,1882: F-33098(Mumbai)

Societies Registration Act,1860: NO.2825

Syamantak’s “School without wall” is located at Dhamapur, a small

hamlet in the district of Sindhudurg, (MAH). Beautiful lake,
thousands of lush green trees, hornbills, wild parrots, peacocks; all
this makes this place rather incredible. But to have all these and not
have leisure to look at it and learn from looking is very absurd. We
think that learning through observations is much more important
than learning from books. One has to learn certain things from
books but learning through what you see, hear and do brings great
sense of sensitivity.

Inspired by our mentor Dr. Srinath Kalbag, a

scientist turned educationist, we formulated a
program called “school without walls” for the
underprivileged students of age group 14 – 21.
 If 90% of our population lives by the hand alone, then it is
better for us to reach the head through the hand.

Our education is related to our At “School without walls”, students

Mother Earth & nobody should be come together and communicate by
forced to leave his village for bread, exploring and questioning. During
butter & education. None should be their one year stay at “school
detached from his Mother soil for without walls they work in each of
the sake of keeping body and soul Engineering, Home & health,
together. We had, in days of yore, Agriculture-Animal husbandry and
excellent architects, super human, Energy-Environment section.
medical men, amazing space
walkers, and all that in villages.
None of the great that time had to
leave their villages. WHY NOW?
We need not go to foreign countries
or metros for higher education

From your left: Mohammad Shaikh, Mahesh

Kadam,Venkat Narayan (Batch: 2007).

Mohammad Shaikh, age 18 and Mahesh

Kadam, age 19 (2008 batch) who came
from bal griha, scored 75 % & 67 %
respectively in Diploma in Basic Rural
Technology recognized by NIOS, New Demystifying science
Delhi. Venkat is pursuing his higher
studies in computer application at
Jabalpur
During their one year stay they are
given project work in each section.
Students are also given various jobs
like organizing a play group,
computer class, and science class etc
for village kids. Students have to
earn minimum. Rs.1000/- in a year
by doing such work. Beside these
skills they are also given training on
costing, budget, planning etc.
Students take their meals together.
Common kitchen is a place to
exchange idea, values and discussion
on various topics. A record of
grocery and calories intake is
maintained by students in
spreadsheet program.

Swapnil Patil, age 19, conducting a

playgroup for village kids. Swapnil opted
to do his post schooling at Syamantak.
During his one year stay he will be
working as a trainee entrepreneur. He
shall use the infrastructure of the
institution and promote his
entrepreneurial abilities. During training
period Swapnil found a costly mobile
hand set on the street. He decided to
return the handset to the police by calling
100. At Syamantak, Swapnil received an
‘admiration star award’ for his sincerity.
Fear to fail in examinations, loose
our jobs, market recessions and so
on….. fear! It is possible in a school
of this kind to help these children to
have no fear whatsoever. Help these
children to be honest, incorruptible.
Help these children to become a
holistic mind.
INNOVATIONS
@
“SCHOOL WITHOUT WALLS”
Ferro-cement
Ferro-cement is a thin cement
mortar laid over wire mesh, which
acts as a reinforcement. It is
relatively cheap, strong and durable,
and the basic technique is easily
acquired.
A ferro-cement basin (size 21” X 52”)
made by 2007 batch (cost Rs.693)
Ferro-cement water tank (size 500 lit)
made by 2008 batch (cost Rs.1,380)
 INNOVATIONS Carbon credits are awarded to students
@ for saving L.P.G. gas and electricity. In
“SCHOOL WITHOUT WALLS” order to save L.P.G. gas students made
a low-cost biogas system from kitchen
Water supply for agriculture activities waste.
was major problem. In order to transfer
water from the near by well
Mohammad Shaikh developed a simple
mechanism using rubber visors (made
from cycle tube) and a pvc pipe.

Kitchen waste Bio Gas unit

A simple water pumping system made by

Mohammad Sheikh for which he received an
‘innovation star award’.
Production of coal from Biomass & rice
cooked in bio-mass cooker

Students gave free of charge hygiene

service to the nearby primary school.
School serves mid-meal to the children.
This facilitated students to collect
additional kitchen waste and produce
more gas.

Students constructed a low-cost
structure with available resources and
materials. Students went in search of
information on the web and books.It
seems that domes were erected and
used as rough & ready shelter by
warring factions during world war II.
A green-house Geodesic dome made by
students.
There are no dark corners there. The
geodesic dome enclosed within itself
the greatest volume compared to the
weight & mass for materials used. It
encloses clear span and surfaces free of
vertical support structures like pillars.
Students got hands-on experience of
this phenomenal distinction regarding
weight and volume as there was a
parallel construction project underway
on our backyard.
A cement & brick trough was to be
made to keep earth worms who will
eventually produce manure for our
kitchen garden. They brought a couple
of sacs of cement and some one
hundred and fifty bricks down the
gradient to the campus and felt the
strain of the weight of these building
materials. Compared to this the
bamboo and twin seemed feather light
indeed. Moreover, when the structures
were completed we discovered students
discovered that the area covered by
heavy materials was just a few cubic
feet while the dome, with negligible
material weight was indeed a host to
perhaps hundred of cubic feet!
Sliding double bed
Mohammad Sheikh made this sliding double
bed using ball bearing of ceiling fan. Total
cost of this sliding bed was Rs. 296/-.
 RESOURCE CENTER
OF
SCHOOL WITHOUT WALLS
We are now stepping forward to make
"school without walls" self-sustainable.
At our resource center we have started:
Production of superior quality vermin-
compost: Approximate production is 12
tones per month. Students of school without
walls get a first hand experience on
management of the production and scientific
know how. They also get an opportunity to
earn and learn. This is proving as a boon to
student’s particularly who comes from
orphan centers.
(For lab test report, retail & bulk rates please contact us)

Production of Bamboo solar dryer

(Range Rs 550 onwards): Cashew fruit goes
waste in konkan except goa. Therefore we
were working on it for long time. Dried
cashew fruits taste like anjeer and khajur. It
can be used as a dry fruit after drying in
solar dryer. This throw away fruit contains
80% calcium, vitamin B and proteins. There
are medicinal values for the fruit for e.g. it is
useful in illness like cough, heart weakness,
gas trouble, memory weakness, stomach,
fever, germs etc. After drying it can fetch a
good amount for the fruit which goes waste
now. A successful experimentation has been
done on onion, coriander, potatoes, &
kokum.

Production of Bio-mass coal & cooker:

(Rs 24 per k.g): Cook your food on steam &
save food nutrients. No tension of
overcooking food. Food remains hot for 2-3
hours even after cooking. Cook – rice, dal,
vegetable, chicken, fish. Simple to use,
convenient to carry. Save time, money, &
precious energy.
 COMMUNITY WORK
Toilet construction contract in village.
Students earned Rs. 4,200 from the services
rendered
Student of “school without walls” conducting
computer class
Students of “school without walls
conducts playgroup and science class for
village kids. Students raised Rupees six to
seven thousand from these activities.
Students collected “Nirmalya” during the
Ganeshji emersion at our beautiful
Dhamapur Lake. Students made compost
fertilizer from the bio-mass waste.
Computerized statistics were made by
students.
(Totalpopulation:1200,GaneshIdol:164,Nirma
lya collected:169kg, Plastic collected 60 kg)
Food lab
Students made Ayurvedic shampoo,
medicated mehendi, sweets, papad etc
and sold the products in the local market.
Blood test, soil test & water test Light Emitting Diode (L.E.D) batteries are
made and sold in local market by students.

Plane table survey Sewing and knitting techniques. Dress

stitched by Mahesh.

Low cost lamp shed

 ARTICLE 51 – A Article 51 A (e) It shall be the duty of every
FUNDAMENTAL DUTIES citizen of India to renounce practices derogatory
to the dignity of women
Article 51 A (h) It shall be the duty of every
citizen of India to develop the scientific
temper,humanism, and the spirit of enquiry &
reform

Navratri is a festival of Goddess Durga.

Students celebrated the festival by offering
sweets to the Nurses & Dai’s of Government
Installation made at Calangute beach hospital.
(Courtsey Dr. Subodh Kerkar). Later on the
installation concept Diwali students printed
greeting cards to spread the message of
smokeless diwali.

Article 51 A (j) It shall be the duty of every citizen of

India to strive towards excellence in all spheres of
individual and collective activity, so that the nation
constantly rises to higher levels of endeavor and achievement.

No cracker Diwali ! Smokeless Diwali !

Celebrating Diwali with Govt. officers on Celebrating Diwali with State Transport
duty employees on duty
 APPEAL

Support “School without walls”

Earmarked donation
For specific programs/projects. It could be earmarked by the donor as donation for corpus.

1Sponsor a child program:

You can contribute a desired amount to our corpus fund to sponsor
a deserving underprivileged child.
ˆTotal annual expenses per child: Rs. 19,000 pa.
ˆNumber of beneficiary: 5 students’ pa
ˆTotal financial support: Rs. 95,000

2Construction & repairs Rs. 4, 00,000

3Tools for Engineering & farming: Rs. 1, 25,000

4Handy cam for Digital articulation: Rs. 20,000

5LCD projector for presentation seminars: Rs. 55,000

6Cashew processing unit: Total: Rs. 54,280

General purpose
7For general activities of the organization, including establishment expenses, programming, etc.
• Internet: 8500 p.a
• Electricity and water: 10,000 p.a
• Visiting faculty: 9,600 p.a
• Study tour visits: 12,500 p.a
• Material expenses: 10,000 p.a
Total: 50,600 p.a

Total budget requirement Rs. 8, 00,000

Our Banker

AXIS BANK
Account Number: 078010100194662
Branch Name: Panaji (Goa)
For ECS (Electronic Clearing Service), the MICR code is 403211002
MEDIA APPRECIATION
 A day in the life of Syamantak
(A Film by Rahat)
Time: 30 min; DVD: Rs.70/-

This film is done on live on the progress of “school

without walls”. All filming was done in a non-invasive
style with no scripts and rehearsals.

Prof. Rahat Yusuft has been an independent film

maker since 1987. He was appointed Professor and
Head of Department of Film Direction and Screen
writing at the film and TV institute at Pune. He has
awards for cinematic excellence from Toronto, Karlovi
Veri and Cascrow. He also has two National Awards in
1991 for best film on environment. His films have been
screened in the prestigious “Spectrum India” during
the International Film Festival of India at New Delhi
and at the Beirut International Film Festival in 1997.