The golden jubilee celebrations of Barefoot College in Tilonia was celebrated in Bengaluru (Deeksha Devadiga/South First)
A three-day event was organised recently in Bengaluru to celebrate half a century of the Barefoot College in Tilonia in Rajasthan. The Social Work and Research Centre, better known as The Barefoot College, was founded in 1972 in the small village in Ajmer district by Sanjit ‘Bunker’ Roy, the husband of social activist Aruna Roy.
The event ‘A celebration of empowerment — 50 years of innovation and sustainability at Barefoot College Tilonia’ was organised by the Bengaluru International Centre and concluded on Sunday, 20 November.
Kannada filmmaker Uma Shankar recalled the time when his association with the Barefoot College began. It started after he read articles written by Bunker Roy in newspapers.
Filmmaker Uma Shankar spoke about how his relationship with Barefoot College began (Deeksha Devadiga/South First)
“When I joined them in 1983, they were working on rural development projects and especially concentrating on night schools. In the past half a century, the Barefoot College has stood for bringing together technology, communication, education, and handicrafts for the betterment of rural communities rooted in traditional wisdom,” Uma Shankar, who spoke at the event on the second day, said.
“What started in a TB sanatorium 50 years ago as the Barefoot College is today Barefoot University. And today through music and puppetry, the communication team from Tilonia will present it for us,” said Uma Shankar.
The communication team from the college used traditional music and puppetry to trace back 50 years of the existence of the institution at Tilonia.
The communication team from Barefoot College, Tilonia, used music and puppetry to tell the story of the institution (Deeksha Devadiga/South First)
The eight members of the communication team came from backward communities and had faced casteism. They said that it was at Tilonia that they were treated as humans first.
Through traditional folk songs that they composed and produced, the team told the audience how the college began. Traditional folk instruments and songs were part of the performance.
On Sunday, the final day, a discussion on ‘The Politics of Craft’ brought together Laila Tyabji, chairperson of Dastkar (an NGO working for the revival of traditional crafts), Uzramma, co-founder of the Handloom Futures Trust, and social activist Aruna Roy. They discussed challenges concerning artisans and their craft.
A discussion on the politics of craft was conducted on the final day of the event (Deeksha Devadiga/South First)
Speaking at the event, Aruna Roy said, “In the 1970s, it was a difficult time for arts and crafts as it was not seen as a part of development. It was a fight to get it acknowledged as a part of the development programme. Many minority communities, Dalits, and women are dependent on arts and crafts for their livelihood.”
An exhibition of arts, crafts, and handlooms was set up in the venue. It included handloom bags, clothes, shoes, puppets, and decorative items produced and created by the artists at Tilonia.
Early on Friday, the first day of the event, former Governor of Bengal and diplomat Gopalkrishna Gandhi was in conversation with Bunker Roy, founder of the Barefoot College. The discussion was titled ‘Working for a Better World’.
Sanjit ‘Bunker’ Roy, educator and social activist, set up Barefoot College in Tilonia, Rajasthan (Deeksha Devadiga/South First)
The Barefoot College is a 50-year-old community-based organisation and was inspired by Mahatma Gandhi’s ideology of using our education and skills for the development of villages.
The college, since 1972, has been working to help marginalised communities and individuals, helping them improve their quality of life, and giving them access to clean drinking water, education, solar power, health, advocacy, and rural livelihoods.
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