MCKV students launches Safaya, joins the 'Clean India' drive

MCKV, located on the outskirts of Kolkata, is the first school from Howrah district to participate in ‘The School Enterprise Challenge’, a global real-time business challenge, exclusively designed for the school students and run by ‘Teach A Man To Fish’, an international educational charity.

R N Mahapatra, Chief PRO, Eastern Railways, while launching the product said, “Students can either construct or destruct, based on their nature. They alone have the will to change this world.”

Sharing anecdotes, Mahapatra stressed on the importance of education, he said, “Education is a must. There are no other short-cuts. One must also acquire wisdom. Where education ends, wisdom starts. It’s the combination of the two that makes us a good human being.”

Safaya is a solvent based cleaner, entirely produced by the students in the MCKV premises.

Heaping praise on the efforts, Mahapatra said, “Will speak to the Indian Railways about Safaya, see if we can use it in the Indian Railways.”

Speaking on their newly launched product, Harsh Kalani, the student leader of the project, said: “Our brand is an eco-friendly one. Until now we have produced fifty liters of the cleaner. We conducted several market surveys and after analyzing the data, we produced our own. The product was made entirely in the chemistry lab.”

Speaking on their goals, Kalani said, “We want to provide the consumers with a superior quality product at a much cheaper rate. Our primary aim is to enhance the hygiene of our home, make it a bit cleaner.”

“It’s a dream come true scenario for us,” said Kishan Kumar Kejriwal, VC, MCKV group of Institutions.

Kejriwal maintained that it’ll be a tough task for his boys to break into the domestic cleaning market, since there is an abundance of brands.

“There is a tough competition for phenyl. There are so many companies in the market and there are people making them in their own houses, but with the quality of our product we think we can sustain.”

When asked if they are willing to provide vocational training to other schools, Kejriwal told IBNS: “We are already providing basic training to fifteen girls from the neighborhood after school hours. We are teaching them how to read and write alongside stitching classes.”

“Look, the basic idea is to use these girls for marketing later, once they can write their name and learn to calculate they will help us in selling the product.”

Neelkantha Gupta, Principal, MCKV, said, “I am proud of my boys and their achievements.”

“Education has rapidly changed, the objective of education has also rapidly changed. Even ten years ago it was govern by syllabus completion, results, schools were judged by how many students you have sent to IIT’s and medical colleges. But today it is multi dimensional.”

“You need to have a lot more knowledge in order to achieve success, one can be a scientist but he’ll still need the knowledge of finances and languages in order to communicate. Hence it is this collective effort that makes us who we are.”

“I have personally supported this challenge because it needs a host of skills,” Gupta added.

The Safaya team comprises of 35 students, divided under 5 categories, each manned by a teacher.

Priced at Rupees 40, Safaya will hit the shelves very soon.

 

(Reporting By Sudipto Maity)