Today on 14 November 2007, when India celebrates Children's Day to mark the birthday of her first Primer Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, the Rajasthan Sate Government's Department of Education commissioned the first of the 20 schools restored after the damaging floods in Rajasthan with support from MiTTAL Foundation and the UK charity CIFF. The school has been restored and reconstructed in partnership with Delhi based NGO SEEDS.

The upper primary school, located in Nagarda village of Barmer district, is one of the few such rural schools that are the only source of elementary education in extreme conditions in this remote part of the Thar desert.

The villages in this region are divided in smaller agglomerations, the mud and thatch Dhanis, that are often not connected by roads, where children have to walk kilometres every day on sand in extreme weather conditions, where water is a scarce commodity, and where construction is an extremely difficult task for any social infrastructure.

In August 2006, unprecedented floods hit the region and destroyed many buildings and infrastructure elements. It was for the first time in recorded history of 200 years that such severe flooding had taken place in this desert, normally known for its perennial droughts. Many school buildings in rural Barmer were destroyed or severely damaged, rendering them unusable and unsafe for occupation.

In the aftermath of the floods, MiTTAL Foundation, CIFF and SEEDS engaged with the local authorities and village communities to take up the work of restoring twenty of the worst affected schools through repairs/retrofitting, additions and reconstruction interventions, depending on the specific needs of each school.

Working with the village community on a socially oriented construction process, Nagarda upper primary school has been restored and retrofitting, thereby making the building specifically resistant to future disasters. The process was based on a detailed need analysis along with a future risk assessment of the school. The school has been equipped with an elaborate plinth protection and rainwater harvesting structures for making it more useful in the long run. Boring window grills, that gave a caged feeling to school children, have been converted to a colourful counting abacus that now works as an educational aid in the class rooms.

At the dedication ceremony, the village headman informed the gathering that a new rain water harvesting structure now uses the roof of the school building as a collection basin for potable rain water that feeds a new tanka (water tank) through a settling chamber. The play ground slopes have been so reworked that every drop of rain water is channelised towards the existing water tank that can be used for purposes other than drinking. This rain water harvesting structure was tested during rains this year and results were so encouraging that teachers and children were explaining & discussing these efforts on their own to every one around. The commissioning of the school boasts of a context, compound, office, classrooms, kitchen, water tanks and functional toilets for boys and girls.

Charged up speeches from village headman, community elders, school teachers and children themselves made the Children's Day function at Nagarda an excitement filled affair. The function that was attended by District Education Officer, Block Education Officer, Block Development Officer and village community.

SEEDS representatives present during the function informed the gathering that the remaining schools will be commissioned in the coming days, thereby completing the post flood recovery process. SEEDS had earlier work with village communities in the same villages to reconstruct 300 houses.

The function ended with cheers from the community. Tomorrow will be a day of classes in the Nagarda upper primary school.