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Kannada medium school students manufacturing and selling paper bags

Environmental friendly bag

Rs 200 for half-a-kg

Easy preparation

Mangaluru: These children do not spend their weekends watching TV or on smart phones.  They instead indulge in preparing paper bags. The bags which they create are then sold by them to the shops in the vicinity of their homes, thereby earning while studying, through this unique initiative.

The students of St Agnes private aided higher primary school have resolved to create a plastic free nature and in this backdrop have resorted to the creation of nature friendly paper bags to bring down and replace the use of plastic bags. More than 60 students of the school have been trained on how to prepare paper bags by Mangala Bhat, who is an alumina of the school.  Students from 4th to 7th std have indulged themselves in his activity.

Rs 200 in earnings!

The activity was started around 2 weeks ago and the students have worked on the goods during their holidays. Initially when the students marketed their goods to the shops nearby their homes, the shopkeepers used to give them chocolates or some sweets as their expression of pleasure. Encouraged by this, the students created more bags and provided them to the shops. The shopkeepers pay around Rs 200 for half-a-kg of paper bags and thus, the students are celebrating their studies along with earnings. Since the shopkeepers deposit the amount directly into the bank accounts of the students, the money is also saved. As most of the students studying at this school come from a poor background, this activity has also become a boon to their educational expenses, informs the Headmistress of the school.

A single paper bag is produced from two pages of newspaper and it only takes a minute for preparation. These bags also make it convenient for the shopkeepers to pack and give pulses and other grocery items in paper bags instead of the plastic ones. Since the students use a thick string to hold the bags, the bags have become extra useful. They prepare bags of varying dimensions.

The pleasure of earning

I prepared more than half kg of paper bags last week which is provided to the shops in the vicinity of my home. The shops paid me Rs 200. I’ll prepare the bags and give it to the shops in the future as well. I use the money earned from it for my school expenses. If I earn as much as I can, then it will be helpful to my parents as well – Keerti, student

Effective due to lesson on nature

During the classes, we keep reminding the students on how plastic is bad for the environment. I used to spread awareness amongst the young children regarding water shortage and environment pollution. Because of this, the children are coming forward to use paper bags instead of plastic. The children have indulged themselves in making paper bags since a fortnight – Sr Jotsna, Headmistress, St Agnes private higher primary school