(Above) A foreign participant shows an innovative product and (below) an installation to help children have fun while learning at the event in Bhubaneswar. Pictures by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, Feb. 21: Thirty-six young professionals from four countries have come together to design innovative tools to impart education to the less privileged.

Nationals from Estonia, Denmark, Nepal and India have based themselves for around two weeks in Bhubaneswar and have designed products to help students meet the challenges of education, and sanitation.

One group used empty plastic bottles, bamboo sticks, rope and paint to design a structure.

Some bottles are painted with letters while other bottles are painted with different pictures and words. By turning the bottles, the children will be able to put different stories together and use their imagination while learning.

Another group has developed a foldable table made of cardboard that can be carried to schools by the students and used as a table.

“We visited some of the government schools in the capital and found that students are forced to sit on the floor in the absence of furniture. The product designed by us is made of easily available cardboard and can be designed by the students themselves. This will make their learning comfortable and easier with almost no extra cost,” said Katrina from Denmark.

Another group took up the problem of making public space safer for the children to play because they are force to play in the road for want of open spaces. The youths came up with something called the “Play Mill”, a sign that could be used to warn drivers when kids were playing on the streets.

“We designed an eye-catching colourful sign made of plastic bottles and bamboos. That could be placed on the road side,” said Cathy, another participant.

Similarly, participants designed trash bins out of waste materials, hand-washing solutions made out of easy, cheap and attractive materials such as plastic balls and water bottles besides a specially-designed garbage bin for food waste.

These products were designed under the design LAB project, which is facilitated by INDEX from Denmark. The organisers said the team should make more change-based projects when they were back home.

Dharitri, a student from BJB Autonomous College who took part in the event, said that it was a wonderful learning experience for her and would help in coming up with solutions of various problems at the individual level. The project will continue till September.