Pani hi Paisa Hai : Save a Drop, Save a Penny

1. Name of School : CENTRE POINT SCHOOL
Address : Amravati Road Bypass, Dabha, Nagpur – 440023.
Name of Students (core team) : 1. Prisha Tiwari
2. Renu Warbhe
3. Niyati Mohanty
4. Piyush Lalwani
5. Shruti Krishnakumar
Name of Mentor Teacher : Mrs.Reshma Ravi Das
Tel./Mob. : 0712-3245259,3245260 , 9423401764
E-mail : cpsamt@rediffmail.com
Give a title to your story of change. :
“Pani Hi Paisa Hai – Save a drop save a penny”.
The week in which it was implemented : 22/09/2012 to 29/09/2012.

2. FEEL - List the situations / problems in your school / community that bothered
you.
The problems listed by children that bothered them were-
1. Water is not available easily in the area where our school is located. It worries us
to see water tankers being called regularly to deal with the scarcity of water.
2. It also upsets us to see women walk long distances, carrying loads, in the hot sun
to obtain drinking water for themselves and their families.
3. We found that the approach road to school is uneven and is in need of repair.
Who was affected by the situation / problem and what did they say ?
IN SCHOOL – Students “Sometimes the tank gets empty and we have no water left to
fill our water bottles.”
Class 4 helpers - “Sometimes we don’t have enough water to clean the toilets and mop
the floors.
NEIGHBOURHOOD – “We have to walk long distances and carry heavy loads on our
head to fetch drinking water, so a lot of our time is wasted everyday.”
APPROACH ROAD PROBLEM – Staff – “It becomes very difficult for us to drive
vehicles especially during the rainy season, and our vehicles get damaged too”. When
there is a heavy downpour we can’t make it to school on time.
IMAGINE –
State the problem you chose and why did you choose it ?
We chose the problem of “WATER” because water is such a precious resource -
using it wisely has become the need of the hour. We also felt that maximum people
would benefit if we dealt with this problem.
List the different solutions you came up with and which one did you choose to
implement and why?
The children came up with wonderful ideas to deal with this issue like –
● Checking all the taps and other sources for leakages and getting them repaired by the
plumber.
Enacting a play on the water cycle.
● Making badges and rewarding children who helped to save water.
● Making slogans and sticking them near all water sources.
● Planting saplings which need less water.
● Implementing drip irrigation using earthen pots.
● Designing a questionnaire to interview parents, household helpers and neighbours and
thereby spreading awareness about different ways to conserve water.
● Making science models to show different ways of conserving water.
We implemented all of the above because we found them feasible and we hoped that
these small steps would help in bringing about the “Big Change”.

3. DO - This is our story of change.
The steps undertaken to solve this problem and thus bringing about the desired change
were –
FIRST PHASE –
After coming to know that the school is spending an exorbitant amount of
money to buy water on a regular basis, the students geared up and decided to tackle this
problem wisely.
● First and foremost , they surveyed the school and checked all the sources of water like
taps in wash basins, toilets, flushes in toilets, garden pipes for leakages. They reported
the leakages to the manager and immediately got them repaired by the plumber.
● To keep a check if the students were closing the taps tightly, the children came up with
an innovative idea of making badges to reward the children who were doing the same.
This news spread like wild fire in the entire school. The children who received the
badges shared their experiences with their friends thereby encouraging them also to
take the initiative of closing the taps tightly.
● Children wrote „SLOGANS‟ and stuck them near all the water sources.
● The next step was to concentrate on the school garden where they used some old
unused earthen pots, made small holes at the bottom with the help of the school
gardener, inserted jute strands in them, filled the pots with water and placed them at
the base of plants and trees in the school garden thus introducing – „DRIP
IRRIGATION‟ with a difference.
● They found out the names of plants which needed less water and planted saplings of
marigold and coleus after preparing a bed for the same near the skating rink of the
school and they were successful in growing more plants.
● The children participated in the Inter School Science Model making competition.
Among the different topics given to them, they chose the one related to water
conservation and won a prize. This model was later exhibited to the children and through
it awareness was spread , they learnt to conserve water as well as to use water
judiciously in the school.
Last but not the least, children came up with a very interesting idea of emptying their
water bottles before leaving the school premises. The water collected in drums was
used to water the plants, flush toilets and for mopping purposes. The staff too joined
in this activity enthusiastically and made it an immediate success.
The Children also visited the rain water harvesting unit in school and were thankful
to the management for providing them with this facility.

4. SECOND PHASE - OUTSIDE SCHOOL ACTIVITY -
Children designed a questionnaire and interviewed their parents & neighbours
regarding the usage of water in their homes. They gave them some interesting tips on
how to save water. The parents and neighbours were really inspired with the children’s
work and gave their valuable feedback for the same. The domestic helpers at home were
also informed and were given tips to save water. Children recorded the readings on the
water meters on a day to day basis and noted a visible difference i.e the number of units
consumed was reduced after adopting the tips to save water.
TIME TO COMPARE - After taking all these small steps, a big change was noticeable
i.e the amount spent on buying water was reduced i.e Rs 2200 (Cost of 4 tankers).
CHANGES OBSERVED -
During the Break time badges were awarded to children who had closed taps
properly. This solved the problem of children wasting water in the toilets. No one
was seen splashing water. In fact they were seen using the breaks constructively,
working in teams for the purpose of saving water.
● Indirectly the children learnt to improve their social skills as they went around
interviewing people and giving them tips on conserving water.
● They also learnt to help others as they all worked as a team.
● They even learnt to offer a helping hand to people who were in need – eg. – Helped a
small boy at the construction site to fill his big water bottle and carry it.
● They learnt how to do surveys and design things for themselves as well as others.
(Questionnaire was made to interview parents and neighbours)
When the well is dry, we learn the worth of water. And this valuable lesson was learnt
and adopted by the 35 enthusiastic children of class VI A who took up the challenge of
bringing about the small but significant change of using water judiciously.
These children touched the lives of 1459 of their fellow students, 92 staff members,
their families at home and their neighbours. They proved to one and all that when we put
our hands together in a group, though our efforts may be small, the change that comes
about is enormous and on a grand scale.
I CAN DO IT
YOU CAN DO IT
WE ALL CAN DO IT AND CHANGE THE WORLD.