CHENNAI: The director of Anjuman-E-Himayath-E-Islam crouches down and tells 12-year-old Mohammad Rafi, “The reporter is here. So, you must speak clearly and properly, but most importantly, be truthful.” The boy nods and turns to his friends, who ask him in Tamil what the director told him. Solemnly, he replies, “He said we should eat more beetroot.”
Mohammad and his three best friends recently received the Brightest Idea award in the ‘I Can School Challenge’ held by Design For Change for their automatic flushing system. The class 5 students of the orphanage for underprivileged – Mohammad Rafi, Hedaiyathullah, Mohammed Ibrahim and Al Quamar Bin Shamim – will also have the honour of visiting the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, at the end of this month to interact with teachers and students there.
The idea for an automatic flush system arose when the boys noticed that the washrooms in their school were dirty. They asked the ayah what the problem was, and she explained that if there was a way to wash the toilet with water, she could clean the toilet easier. “We realised that their jobs weren’t easy and that it was difficult in a unique way. We prepared the designs for the automatic flush in class. We would do many drawings and show it to our teachers,” said 10-year-old Hedaiyathullah.
Shreya Karumanchi, a Teach For India (TFI) fellow and one of the mentors for the boys, said, “They were very particular in choosing common household items, which can be easily and cheaply implemented anywhere. In fact, Hedaiyath was at the TFI office the other day, and we were taking a video of them and their machine. When we explained the idea of royalties and the fact that he could get money from this idea, he immediately said that he didn’t want that, and this was for everyone to use, especially those in rural areas.”
Along with TFI Fellows Priyanka Gunashekaran and Sowmya Lakshminarayanan, Shreya spotted the four boys during a football match in February this year, where they saw the potential in them. The three teachers then took the four boys to a TFI conference, where students presented their projects that were bringing in a change in their schools or homes. They suggested that the boys find four issues that need to be tackled, and then decide on their projects from there. The boys conducted a survey among their peers in classes 4, 5 and 6, on issues their classmates thought were most pressing — sanitation, planting more trees on campus, starting a garden, or keeping their classrooms clean. Their survey found that their classmates found sanitation to be the most pertinent concern. They spent two months preparing their system, with Shreya, Sowmya and Priyanka pitching in for guidance and helping them buy the materials.
“All great things have begun with a spark. Now that these students have displayed that spark, what’s left is only the Nobel Prize, nothing less. We are all on cloud nine at their achievements, and we hope that this is a small stepping stone for their success,” said SM Mazharulla, the executive director of the 128-year-old orphanage, which hosts 873 children at their T Nagar campus. “We also hope that this will give the incentive to push and motivate other students to also try new things.
These children have been recognised in a big way, and we hope others will emulate them,” said GSK Masud, treasurer, Anjuman-E-Himayath-E-Islam.The boys excitedly await their trip to Ahmedabad and hope to learn how to improve their system. “As teachers, we have to wait until our students grow up to become leaders. In this case, we don’t have to wait anymore. These kids have shown creativity and empathy further than any adult, and it shows how students are the better leaders of today,” said Sowmya.
Deceptively simple
The system, which is made using a bubble-top, pulley system, siphon and PVC pipes, is connected to the door handle with a rope and a clamp. Upon opening the door, the pulley system is activated, and water flows through siphon and through pipes connected to the walls on the washrooms floor.