BACKGROUND
Bagath Singh Nagar School, situated in Neredmet, Secunderabad, is a government primary school providing education to children between the ages of 4 and 16 years old. The school has three teachers, and the classes are divided accordingly. Currently 100 children attend the school, but due to a lack of adequate facilities, dropout rates are high.

The school building lacks a compound wall, meaning that there is nothing between the children’s recreation area and an open road. Toilet facilities do not exist, which is especially demotivating for girl students, for whom societal barriers to education already loom large. The entire school is currently crammed into one room comfortably housing 20 children, meaning that teachers have difficulty in maintaining children’s attention, and children find it hard to focus due to noise.

Urgent repairs are required to the school building to prevent roof collapse and enable safe usage of the premises. Previous construction work was halted due to a lack of funds, leaving gaps that can be walked through in the walls needed to hold the building up.

EDUCATION IS A CHILD RIGHT
The Child Right to Education is outlined in Article 28 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). In India, a 10th Class Certificate (equivalent to GCSEs in the UK) is not only highly advantageous in pursuing a future career or marriage match; it is required to obtain a ration card, which has become a de facto ID card. Without such certification it is extremely difficult to, for example, apply for a driving licence, a bank loan or legal tax status.

Government schools are a free resource open to children from all socio economic backgrounds. However, a lack of funding means that these resources are rarely developed to their fullest extent. Parents, anxious to provide a quality education for their child in the context of an extremely competitive job market, are willing to sacrifice the majority of the family earnings in order to send their children to a private school, generating considerable strain on the home environment. Parents that are unable to pay for a private school education will often view education as a waste of time, instead opting to send their children out to work or keep them at home to look after younger siblings or help with chores.

Enabling access to quality education is essential for tackling poverty and ill health, and to empower young adults to make a sustainable contribution to society. A quality education cannot be realised without having a safe, clean learning environment and teaching methods that incorporate resources such as textbooks and games equipment. A CCF 2006 child consultation undertaken in three districts in Vizianagaram, Andhra Pradesh, in which the average rate of education was less than 45%, outlines several factors that children have identified as necessary for a quality education. These include: Teachers coming on time, good relations between the teachers and the community, sports, games and play-way methods of teaching, clean, hygienic surroundings, a compound wall, adequate toilet facilities.

WHAT DOWN2EARTH IS DOING
Down2Earth is working to make Bagath Singh Nagar school child friendly and eco friendly in order to decrease attrition rates and highlight the school amongst the community as a free and attractive option for its children. Working with the teachers and school committee to identify requirements, local volunteers have begun to mobilise essential resources such as books and plates and conduct extracurricular activities with children including dance classes and non competitive games sessions.

On February 27th, volunteers from the I.T. company “Global Solutions” held a one day programme with the children, donating school books, notepads and sporting equipment, and holding dance and drawing competitions. Prior to this, a small exercise was undertaken with the children to determine which sports materials to donate. This engagement was the first stage of a structured process of developing the school, involving Down2Earth, the schoolteachers and Mr Ram Kishor, District Head