Big-ticket announcements by politicians are passé. Now, there are children in Gujarat who are writing small, silent revolutions without waiting for official claims.

Take the toilet-building project by Class XI students of Vadodara’s upmarket Navrachana International School, who brought newspaper scrap from their homes and Vadodara’s residents to build toilets for a slum located near the school.

They chose Ambedkarnagar in Bhaili village near their school and are constructing 37 toilet blocks, with 20 of those ready while work is in progress for the rest.

Class XI students of Vadodara’s Navrachana International School in Ambedkarnagar, Gujarat, collected newspaper scrap from their homes to build toilets for a slum

Navrachana School principal Theo D’Souza told Mail Today: “Class XI students themselves took the initiative and they brainstormed on how to generate funds for it.”

“The students’ initiative is to ensure all homes in Ambedkarnagar have their own toilets and to make sure that the area is cleared of human waste,” said Tejal Amin, who is chairperson of Navrachana Education Society and brand ambassador for the Chief Minister’s Swachhata Abhiyan.

She told Mail Today that the toilet project is an initiative by students of the International Baccalaureate (DP-IB) programme of Navrachana School and will be accepted as part of “their Creativity Action Service (CAS) project requirement, which is compulsory for each student.

The students walked around the city every Saturday and collected some 200kg of newspaper worth Rs 2,000

Student Ishita Patel said: “We initially collected newspaper scrap from our homes and then went around the city to gather the same. The response was good.”

They used to traverse the city every Saturday and collect some 200 kg of newspaper worth Rs 2,000.

Another student Bansree Patel told Mail Today: “Newspaper and other scrap was one mode of fund generation. We went to Navratri and Diwali events in the city to ask for funds and we got favourable reactions.”

The students first conducted a survey of Ambedkarnagar and learnt that 37 houses of the 250 dwellings did not have toilet facilities. The locality also lacked a playschool.

Later, International School of Stockholm Region (ISSR), which partners Navrachana on the CAS programme, also approved the project and was keen on working on it.

Moreover, seven students and a teacher from the Swedish school have contributed to raising funds in Sweden for three toilet blocks.

The students also contacted an NGO which works extensively on sanitation projects

Principal D’Souza said that once the “project was decided for 2014-15 CAS activity, each student pledged to construct one toilet on his own.”

He added that the students gave themselves one year to raise money for the project and came up with user-friendly designs - economical and sustainable.

The students also contacted an NGO SVADES (Society for Village Development in Petrochemicals Area), which works extensively on sanitation projects and rural development.