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Improving Education in the Sundarbans

Education in The Sundarbans
The Sundarbans mangrove forest, one of the largest such forests in the world, lies on the delta of the Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna rivers on the Bay of Bengal. Being the largest river delta in the world, the Sundarbans is an archipelago of islands located in the Bay of Bengal and divided between India and Bangladesh. It is home to roughly 4.5 million people that are affected by storms, cyclones and other environmental disasters. In 2011, the literacy rate of the people in the Sundarbans was 25.71% compared to West Bengal’s 76.26%. Several organizations are dedicating themselves to innovative efforts to improving education in the Sundarbans.

Keeping Children in School

The Sundarbans islanders are dependent on fishing, agriculture and the cottage industry for their income. The location of the islands, their dwindling mangrove population, breached shoreline and similarly breached tiger territories have pushed children out of school. The unique climatic and environmental situation on the islands has made innovation key in improving education in the Sundarbans. Fortunately, many organizations have found ways to bring the school closer and made it more appealing to stay in school.

School in The Cloud

The ‘School in The Cloud’ is an independent learning lab that uses solar power. The school uses a 40-foot bamboo tower receiver for its internet connectivity in the Sundarbans. It is the brainchild of Dr. Sugata Mitra of Newcastle University. He wanted to integrate Self Organized Learning Environment (SOLE) in order to improve education in the Sundarbans. Leadership specifically designed these learning hubs for children who are below the poverty line and thus lack access to unrestrained holistic education. The school focuses on the reading, speaking and comprehension skills of the children. This innovative institution receives funding from the TED prize money worth $1 million that Professor Mitra received.

Sabuj Sangha & Kishalay

Biplab Das, a Sundarbans native with an MBA, founded the Kishalay Foundation. The Kishalay Foundation focuses on the improvement of education for the Sundarbans’ underprivileged children. The foundation is affiliated with the government of West Bengal and serves as a learning hub for children at various levels of their education.

Sabuj Sangha works with Kishalay in its mission to retain children who have dropped out of school. Its innovative “preparatory centers” are key in rehabilitating children back into formal education. It accomplishes this by educating children informally for a year to help aid their transition. So far, the centers have successfully rehabilitated 700 children into formal education with the help of unemployed graduate teachers. The support of many donors, including the Tata group and Pepe Jeans, sustains this multi-faceted effort. The Smile Foundation is also affiliated to amplify the efforts of Sabuj Sangha and Kishalay in improving education in the Sundarbans.

The Sundarbans, through the work of its islanders and supporting organizations, can become a resourceful community for children to grow. Developing communities such as the islands of Sundarbans benefit from continued initiatives and foundational innovations. Moving forward, the work of nonprofits and educational leaders will drive community-informed and community-focused holistic development in the Sundarbans.

– Anuja Mukherjee
Photo: Flickr

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Poverty and Plastic Pollution in the Sundarbans

Plastic Pollution and Poverty in the SundarbansFrom space, the “Beautiful Forest,” or the Sundarbans, looks like a dreamscape — dark mangrove forests nestled among a lacy lattice of luminous streams that snake into the Bay of Bengal. Zooming closer reveals grimmer realities. The Sundarbans are a part of the world’s largest delta, the Ganga-Brahmaputra delta, covering most of Bangladesh and large amounts of West Bengal in India. Home to more than 100 million people, it is one of the most densely populated regions globally and faces extreme poverty and plastic pollution.

Fringed by the large arc of the Bay of Bengal, the coastal population here relies on the ocean, upstream rivers, rich delta soils, monsoons and mangrove forests for its livelihood. Primary industries are marine and freshwater fishing, rice farming and tourism. Life here teeters on a fragile balance with nature. Annual monsoons cause floods and rising ocean levels threaten to submerge the lands. However, they also bring fertility and rich aquatic life that are vital to the livelihood of millions.

A particularly grave human-made threat to this delicate coastal ecosystem is plastics. Plastics pour into the bay from upstream rivers and neighboring areas and choke the coastal lands with the locally generated waste.

Impact of Plastic Pollution in the Sundarbans

The plastic in the food supply chain gravely impacts the fishery industry of the delta region, as evident in its clogged mangroves and plastic-choked fish farms. Plastic also pollutes the population’s primary food source: fish and other aquatic life. As plastics disintegrate into fundamental particles, they make their way into the biota and eventually into humans, causing many health issues.

The area’s waste-blanketed beaches also deter tourism. Accumulations of plastic mar beautiful coastlines due to poor infrastructure and waste management.

Additionally, increasing plastic use by ever-growing populations depletes natural resources and poisons life-giving food sources. This creates conditions for poverty and unsustainable living in the Sundarbans. Reducing plastic accumulation in the ocean and coastal areas of the Bay of Bengal is critical and needing concerted, multi-pronged actions.

Addressing the Plastic Pollution Issues at the Source

Measuring and identifying pollution problems upstream, as with the National Geographic-led Ganges Sea to Source Expedition project, will be vital to deploying preventive solutions closer to their source. Projects such as this one seek to understand the plastics’ journey in the river, tracking the patterns, volumes and trajectory into the ocean. The Ganges, one of the world’s largest rivers, is a principal source of water into the Bay of Bengal and a principal source of its plastics. The Ganges and two other rivers are estimated to empty one to three billion microplastics into the Bay of Bengal each day.

Waste Management Programs

Waste management programs to reduce plastic in the ocean and neighboring coastlines are critical in this fight against poverty and plastic pollution. Such programs can include installing waterway bins and collectors in the bay and plastic collection programs in coastal areas. Such programs have the added benefit of employing local labor in building these infrastructures. However, solutions such as installing obstructive bins in the ocean have their limitations. A push to longer-term restructuring and design will be necessary while relying on short-term solutions.

Awareness and Innovative Products

Large-scale education campaigns on anti-littering and plastic-use awareness are also crucial to addressing current pollution challenges. Encouraging reuse, responsible disposal of wastes and moving to environment-friendly alternatives in daily life can help slow the current plastic pollution rates.

In the long term, establishing programs that focus on bio-friendly products and innovations offers the best route out of the current predicament. Boosting programs and research in topics that rethink current practices and modes of plastic-dependent systems can also stimulate the local economy and employment while generating viable solutions. Levying taxes to deter plastic use should also be considered within a broader governance and policy framework.

As gloomy as the Sundarbans’ current pollution circumstances seem, there are many paths to reversing plastic’s impacts in the Bay of Bengal while boosting labor in local populations with innovation, research and collective action.

– Mala Rajamani
Photo: Flickr