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Little Swachh Warriors Built A Sweeping Vehicle From Waste Materials To Help The Elderly Cleaner In School

13-year-old swachh warriors from Panchayat Union Middle School, Konerikuppa village from Villupuram district of Tamil Nadu, decided to help the elderly lady who swept their school's large playground. They got together and built a sweeping vehicle made out of waste products to ease the burden of the 50-year-old cleaner, P Panchali, who passed away recently.

Meet 13-year-old swachh warriors who made the best possible use of waste products which otherwise would have made their way into the dustbins. They built a sweeping vehicle back in 2016 to help the 50-year-old P Panchali who used to sweep the school compound.

The idea came to them after seeing P Panchali sweeping their school's large playground every day. The aim was to ease the burden of the elderly lady. Initially, they thought of giving her a helping hand, but that was not possible given the school's schedule, so they started thinking of other creative solutions.

The students got help from Design for Change, a nonprofit organisation that challenges children across the country to solve problems in their community. The NGO identified the school and motivated the children and teachers to take up any prevailing issue in the school to create a sustainable solution on their own.

The swachh warriors adopted a simple 4-step formula created by the NGO - feel the problem, imagine the issue, create solutions and share your idea with others. The students started working under the guidance of Arockia Raj L, Primary Teacher and a Mentor for students.The swachh warriors adopted the simple 4-step formula created by the NGO - feel the problem, imagine the issue, do create solutions and share your idea with others and started working under the guidance of Arockia Raj L, Primary Teacher and a Mentor for students.

The children worked with P Panchali, to understand her difficulties and create a sustainable solution. After many trials and tribulations, two types of sweeping vehicles were created - one that can be used while cycling in circles, and the other while walking in circles.

Materials used for their sweeping vehicle: Waste palm, coconut leaves, a stick, and wheels of small cycles.

Why did students opt for waste materials? They wanted that their solution to be cost effective and sustainable and waste materials qualified on both those grounds.

Today, when P Panchali is no more with the students, the children use their invented sweeping vehicle in free time to sweep the ground all by themselves.