Education is a necessity to lead a life of dignity. Every individual has a right to education. Because of a lack of facilities, many girls do not get access to proper schooling. The quote that “where there is a will, there is a way” is suitable for the current story.
A US-based non-profit organization CITTA has built a Rajkumari Ratnavati Girls school in the middle of the dusty Thar desert. It is a place that will empower and educate young girls and women in Rajasthan’s rural areas.
Rajkumari Ratnavati – Architecture of the School
The founder of CITTA, Michael Daube, hired US-based architect Diana Kellogg to design the school. Diana traveled to the state in 2014 and built the school by only incorporating ideas from the Indian culture. She gave the school an oval shape after observing that many households in Rajasthan had a courtyard in between the house.
In many cultures, the oval shape symbolizes womanhood. The oval shape also naturally filters the sand and keeps the sun’s rays out. The school naturally stays cool from the inside.
The Design of the School
Diana started working on the design in 2014. The local artisans started building the school in 2018. Local materials were used to construct the school. Using sandstone to make the school helped in reducing the carbon footprint from transportation and logistics.
The sandstone protects against the harsh sun’s rays during the day and keeps it cooler during the evening. The classrooms and offices have been made bigger to allow room for ventilation. They have installed solar panels on top of the structure to provide electricity.
The Facilities in the School
The Rajkumari Ratnavati Girls school is in Kanoi village, Jaisalmer. They made it out of yellow sandstone and is an architectural marvel. The school has no air-conditioners. But they designed it in such a way that it protects the students from the harsh sun rays.
The school is an oval-shaped structure comprising Gyaan Centre to house 400 girls from kindergarten to Class X, a performance hall, an exhibition space for local artisans to sell their crafts, and a textile museum.
The Purpose Behind Building the School
Michael Daube built a school in Jaisalmer because of the lack of facilities, low literacy rates, and high dropout rates of girls from schools. To empower women, educating them is necessary. Daube wanted to support these women and help them receive the education they deserve.
He wanted to build a school where the parents of the girl child would feel proud to send them. Apart from functioning as a school, the architectural marvel also attracts many tourists every year.
If you loved this story, read another story about how Padbank is providing free sanitary products to women in rural India.
To know more about Diana Kellogg, please check – Instagram and Website.
To know more about Michael Daube, please check – Instagram
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