Renewable Energy Promotion Boosts Learning In Remote Island Schools

On a humid afternoon in August, Jaher Ali, a teacher at Assam’s Lakhipur Middle School in Barpeta district, is teaching science to his students. The students are glued to the projected screen he uses to explain the concepts. Visibly, the students seem to be more attentive to this lesson than the previous one that was taught with a blackboard.

They testify to the power of audio visual learning methods. “Until last year, a subject like science was a bit difficult to pursue, though we have a very nice teacher. The new audio visual method helps us learn faster,” says Rajibul Hoque, a student of eighth standard in the school. Hoque himself wants to become a teacher in the future.

The e-classroom setup enables remote teaching using digital content. For this, however, the schools need to have uninterrupted power supply, a far dream for schools in Assam’s remote and often inundated river islands. Solar energy is being used to bridge the gap left by unreliable grid energy in some schools, but needs to be scaled up significantly to mainstream the use of e-classrooms.

According to the Ministry of Education’s UDISE+ 2023-24 data, Assam has 45,008 government schools out of which 3,048 are powered by solar panels. About 2,500 upper primary, and 4,000 secondary and senior secondary schools in Assam are equipped with an e-classroom, also known as ICT (Information and Communication Technology), setup, according to Assam’s Elementary Education Department.

Going beyond the e-classrooms, renewable energy initiatives, particularly solar power and electric mobility, are broadly enhancing educational access for children residing on the remote river islands, locally known as chars, in Assam’s Brahmaputra River Valley. These regions, often lacking reliable grid electricity, are witnessing transformative changes through targeted interventions by non-governmental organisations (NGO), government programmes, and community efforts.​

Solar panel impacts go beyond digital learning

Jaher Ali says he has observed that since the installation of solar panels at the school, along with the digital classroom infrastructure that’s improving learning, basic facilities for the students, such as regular electricity, fans and filtered water systems, have also improved. Earlier, they had to study in extreme heat and humidity.

Nur Jaman Seikh, a senior teacher at a lower primary school at No. 3 Dhalpur in Darrang district says, “We got solar panels about three years ago. Prior to that, children were facing the heat and falling sick very often. Our area is very backward and poverty is prevalent here, many students come to school without eating anything. In that situation, being exposed to humid and hot classrooms, intensifies the difficulties for them. The fans we have now have helped up to some extent, if not completely.”

However, just a couple of kilometers away, the situation in another school, Madhya Dhalpur Prathmik Vidhyalay, is different. The solar panels power fans in three rooms — two classrooms for the fourth and fifth standard and one office room. The younger students of first, second and third standard don’t have any fans.

Eight-year-old Razibul, studying in the second standard of the school, doesn’t like to go to school in the heat. His mother Aziron Nisa explains that though the school is right next door, “it becomes difficult to convince him to go to school on days when it is hot. But on rainy days, he is always ready.”

Najmul Hoque, 21, a resident of the same locality says, “There are no fans in some classes. Children don’t want to go to school when it is very hot. Sometimes, they go to school and come back after an hour or so as the temperature increases.”

“The school timings are from 9.45 am to 1 pm. These are extreme heat hours he, the timing should be early in the morning so there is some respite from the heat,” he adds.

Solar brings reliability

The Assam Integrated Clean Energy Policy, 2025 talks about promoting off grid solar application at educational institutions. “The State will also promote setting up of stand-alone solar systems to provide electricity to households in remote Villages /Hamlets / educational institutions / health institutions / public areas etc,” the policy says.

Some of the island schools in Assam that do get  grid electricity still feel the need for solar powered electricity because the grid is not reliable. Frequent load shedding and damage to power lines because of floods interrupts the power supply. In this situation, the digital classroom set up is of no use. Additionally, the students find it difficult to attend classes in extreme humidity.

Mafida Khatun, 58, is the head teacher at Khar Balli Lower Primary school in Khar Balli village of Barpeta district and has been teaching for the last 27 years. “The school got power supply (grid) in 2021, before that there was no fan in the school, so we were using hand fans. The digital class setup came in February this year and despite not having a dedicated computer teacher we started some classes,” she says. “However, it was interrupted because the power supply was cut off due to the swelling Beki river (one of the major tributaries of Brahmaputra),” she adds.

Ajhar Ali, 47, president of the school management committee says, “The school shifted to the new building two years ago when the earlier school building got washed away. The ICT (Digital class) came here this February. Since then, the electricity supply has been interrupted three times — for one month, fifteen days and one week. The projector-assisted digital classrooms as well as the classes teaching computers were shut during this time.” The committee had put a request for solar panels to the panchayat during the recent elections.

In its study of climate-vulnerable regions, the World Resource Institute (WRI) found that electricity demand will rise to support essential services such as digital education, quality healthcare, and livelihood enhancement initiatives. These services are vital to building long-term community resilience in the face of growing climate risks. Renewable energy systems can be designed to provide uninterrupted, reliable electricity supply in climate vulnerable parts of Assam such as the char areas, said the 2021 report.

According to WRI’s study, decentralised solar energy solutions are emerging as a promising approach to ensure reliable electricity for community infrastructure in climate-vulnerable regions, such as the char areas of Assam. While not entirely immune to extreme weather, decentralised systems are generally more resilient than centralised electricity infrastructure.

Bridging the connectivity gap

What began as an effort to promote green mobility in Assam has pleasantly impacted education in the islands. Electric rickshaws help teachers, particularly women, commute safely and affordably to the remote schools.

The state government is promoting electric rickshaws through various government schemes to support Assam’s larger electric vehicle transition and also provide an affordable and sustainable mobility alternative. The department of welfare of minorities and development distributes free electric rickshaws to unemployed youths to provide livelihood and promote cheaper mobility options. The department’s directorate of char area development which oversees the development of the river islands of the state, aims to hit two targets through this electric three-wheeler – affordable transport and livelihood.

“Poor people who have to travel on a daily basis can easily afford to travel by such vehicles. Poor people who have no skills can at least earn their livelihood by at least running an e-rickshaw. There will be a huge compromise in environmental pollution, no heavy maintenance and easy to ride, pollution free and eco-friendly to the environment,” the website says.

A study on the role of electric rickshaws done in Barpeta district describes its role as a means of transportation in rural areas and a new means of employment to the lower strata of the society. “The electric rickshaws are playing an important role as a means of transportation for the local shorter distances as well as a means of livelihood in the rural areas of Barpeta district of Assam. Sometimes, some of the drivers have faced some problems, but they have become very popular means of transportation for shorter distances,” the study says.

This introduction of electric rickshaw has indirectly helped many teachers, especially women teachers reach their schools conveniently and on time. Earlier, teachers had to walk up to two to four kilometers to reach the river bank from where they usually take their boat to the char. Mafida Khatun, a teacher, may not have solar panels in her school yet but she still has access to the  benefit of renewable energy in the form of electric rickshaw. “My house is about two kilometers away from the ferry point. I usually take the to-to (local term for e-rickshaw), and sometimes walk down. Earlier, I had to walk most of the times or when it was not possible then I had to ask someone from the neighbourhood to drop me. After to-to came, the situation got better,” she says.

“The introduction of e-rickshaws helps in mobility of teachers, especially women teachers as they can provide transport services with the last mile connectivity in the char areas of Assam. Now they can reach the location which is usually not covered by unconventional services such as buses,” says Deluwar Hoque, the author of the study and associate professor at Royal Global University in Guwahati.

“In the rural areas, there is a lack of hired taxi services, and even if they are available, they are very expensive. The introduction of e-rickshaws also makes mobility affordable, at the same time it reduces the waiting time for these teachers as the frequency is higher because of the number of vehicles available,” he highlights.

The flip side

The rapidly increasing number of electric rickshaws brings its own challenge. As the number of these rickshaws are growing because of their lower investment, roads – urban and rural – are often crowded with these. Apart from this, unregulated parking, unscientific design and increasing competition are some other issues people are facing.

“These to-to are everywhere. You can find them on main roads and even on highways. Since they are slow moving and quite a few in numbers, it becomes difficult to drive on roads. They are very helpful for local people but they should not be allowed in certain areas, especially on main roads and highways,” says Anwar Hussain, an engineering graduate turned transporter.

“There is a concern that the number of e-rickshaws is increasing and there is no restriction on the number of e-rickshaws at one place. It has also become a livelihood for unskilled or illiterate labourers in the rural areas. But as this trend is growing it is leading to traffic congestion, especially on narrow rural roads. There is also a parking issue as there are no designated stands for these vehicles,” says Deluwar Hoque.

He also highlights that the growing competition among the operators is leading to drivers engaging in unsafe driving practices increasing the risk to passengers as well as other road users.