Discover
As a primary school teacher at Z. P. Kendra School, Karanji, Tal. Mahur, Dist. Nanded (Maharashtra) Meera Pardowad led plenty of initiatives to make her school greener and cleaner. Her students did everything from planting trees and vegetable gardens to tending to them everyday.
The green yards of their school were the pride and joy of all students! 
But suddenly, one day, the borewell we used to water the trees stopped working. The wiring got burnt. Without water, all the trees started drying up.
No one knew what to do.
So they decided to…
Investigate:
They realized that while the school tap received water supply, it wasn’t on during school hours.
Also, since there was no motor, they couldn’t use the overhead tank to store water.
It was now time to…
Solve:
She asked her students, “What can we do to save these trees?”
She encouraged them to think of ways to solve the problem without using too many resources and time.
One of them immediately said, “Madam, we can dig a small well in front of the tap. If we line it with cement, it will store water. When we come to school, we can fill a bucket and water the trees quickly!”
She understood exactly what they meant.
Her fellow teachers agreed on the plan and their support gave her the encouragement to start working!
Next day, she asked the students to bring a spade and shovel to start digging ourselves. The prospect of solving the school’s problem with their own hands excited them, too!
Here’s how they did it.
Step 1:
They drew a circle in front of the tap.
Step 2:
Two or three students dug a 3.5 feet hole in just half an hour.
They couldn’t dig too deep but they managed.
Step 3:
They already had half a sack of cement leftover in the school from past repairs. They mixed 2-3 kgs of it with water, and lined the hole with cement.
In just an hour, their small well was ready!
Step 4:
After school hours, they used a pipe to divert the tap water in the DIY well.
Rejoicing in the fruits of their labor, the children filled buckets and watered all the trees. Even after they were done, the well had some water left in it.
And just like that, their withered trees turned green again…
