From Limited Formal Education to Technical Leadership — A Remarkable Journey of Women’s Empowerment
“Education is not limited to classrooms or degrees. Sometimes, the greatest learning begins when someone believes in your ability to make a difference.”
1. Introduction: A College That Redefines Education
In a small village in Rajasthan, a remarkable transformation is taking place. Women who may never have attended formal science classes are learning to assemble, install, maintain, and repair solar lighting systems. Many return to their villages as skilled technicians, bringing electricity, confidence, and new livelihood opportunities to their communities.
This is the story of Barefoot College, Tilonia, also known as the Social Work and Research Centre (SWRC). Founded in 1972 by Sanjit “Bunker” Roy, the organisation was built on the belief that rural communities possess valuable knowledge and abilities and should have the opportunity to solve their own problems.
Instead of making formal degrees the gateway to technical learning, Barefoot College emphasises practical skills, community knowledge, self-reliance, and learning by doing. Its work demonstrates how women can become agents of technological and social change when training is designed around their needs.
2. Where Is Barefoot College Located?
Location: The Barefoot College (Social Work & Research Centre) is located in Tilonia, Ajmer district, Rajasthan, India.
- Postal address: The Barefoot College, Tilonia, District Ajmer – 305816, Rajasthan, India.
- Region: Rural Rajasthan, approximately 110 km from Jaipur.
- Founded: 1972.
- Founder: Sanjit “Bunker” Roy.
- Official website: https://barefoot.college/
- Contact: +91-82098 69426; +91-1463-288210 / 288351.
- Email: hello@barefoot.college.
The campus itself reflects its philosophy of sustainability. Rainwater harvesting, solar energy, recycling, and locally grounded solutions are integrated into its approach to rural development. <escape>Official contact and visit information</escape>.
3. The Solar Mamas: Women Who Turn Skills into Social Change
One of Barefoot College’s best-known initiatives is its solar engineering programme, which trains rural women from communities that lack reliable electricity.
These women are widely known as Solar Mamas. They are not selected simply because of their academic qualifications. The programme focuses on women from remote, underserved communities who can take their skills back home and help their villages access clean energy.
Some participants are illiterate or semi-literate. Many have little or no prior exposure to electrical engineering. Yet, with intensive practical training, they learn to work with solar technology and become capable of maintaining systems in their own communities.
The most inspiring part is that the programme does not stop at training an individual woman. It builds local capacity so that knowledge, technical services, and livelihood opportunities remain within the community.
4. How Do Non-Educated or Semi-Literate Women Become Solar Engineers?
The answer lies in a different approach to teaching.
Barefoot College does not assume that every learner must begin with textbooks, complicated equations, or advanced technical terminology. Instead, it breaks down technology into practical tasks that can be demonstrated, repeated, understood, and mastered.
Step 1: Selecting women from rural communities
The programme identifies women from remote villages, particularly communities with limited access to electricity and technical services.
The aim is to train women who can use their skills to support their own communities, rather than treating training as an individual achievement alone.
Step 2: Learning through demonstrations
Trainers demonstrate the equipment, components, tools, and tasks. Women learn by observing, handling materials, practising, and repeating each process.
For learners who have had limited formal schooling, visual demonstrations and hands-on practice can make technical concepts easier to understand.
Step 3: Understanding solar components
During training, women become familiar with solar products and their practical operation. Depending on the training programme, this can include learning to assemble solar lamps, work with lighting systems, identify components, and understand installation and maintenance procedures.
Step 4: Building skills through repeated practice
Rather than relying only on written examinations, the programme emphasises practical competence. Trainees practise the tasks required to assemble, install, troubleshoot, repair, and maintain solar products.
With repeated practice and trainer support, unfamiliar technology becomes something they can confidently work with.
Step 5: Completing intensive training
The established Solar Engineer programme has included six months of residential practical training. The duration can vary across specific projects and training cohorts.
For example, in June 2024, Barefoot College reported that 30 women from Manipur completed an intensive three-month programme covering solar lighting systems, with additional training in mini- and micro-grid systems. This shows that the duration and curriculum can be adapted to a particular initiative.
Step 6: Returning home with tools and equipment
After training, participating women can return to their villages with the relevant equipment, spare parts, and support arrangements provided by their projects.
They can establish local workshops, install solar home-lighting systems, and offer maintenance and repair services, helping communities reduce their dependence on technicians from distant towns.
Step 7: Becoming community leaders
The women are not merely learning a technical trade. They can become local role models, helping other women recognise their capabilities and encouraging their communities to adopt sustainable solutions.
The central lesson is simple: formal education can be valuable, but a lack of formal schooling does not mean a lack of intelligence, practical ability, or potential.
“When we empower a woman with skills, we empower a family with hope, a community with strength, and a generation with possibilities. Because when women learn, they don’t just change their own lives, they light up the world.”