Menu

Bunker Roy

Sanjit Bunker Roy at Time 2010
Sanjit Bunker Roy at Time 2010 Image: Wikimedia Commons. David Shankbone from USA / CC BY 2.0

Sanjit "Bunker" Roy is an Indian social activist and educator, best known as the founder of the Barefoot College in Tilonia, Rajasthan. He has worked for several decades on issues of rural development, drinking water, education, solar energy, and the empowerment of rural women in India and across the Global South.

Key facts

Name Sanjit "Bunker" Roy
Nationality Indian
Known for Founding the Barefoot College, Tilonia
Field Rural development, education, social activism
Organisation Social Work and Research Centre (SWRC) / Barefoot College
Location Tilonia, Ajmer district, Rajasthan, India

Background

Roy was educated at The Doon School in Dehradun and at St. Stephen's College, University of Delhi. Coming from a privileged urban background, he initially trained as a sportsman before turning to social work. An early experience working with famine relief in Bihar in the late 1960s shaped his decision to commit to long-term rural development rather than urban professional life.

Barefoot College

In 1972, Roy founded the Social Work and Research Centre (SWRC) in the village of Tilonia in Rajasthan. The institution later came to be widely known as the Barefoot College. Its core philosophy is that rural communities possess practical wisdom and that ordinary villagers — including those who are illiterate or semi-literate — can be trained as "barefoot" professionals: solar engineers, water technicians, teachers, health workers, architects, and artisans.

The college is particularly known for its training programme for rural women, often grandmothers, from villages across Asia, Africa, and Latin America, who are taught to fabricate, install, and maintain solar lighting systems in their home communities. The campus itself was designed and built by villagers and is largely solar-powered.

Approach and significance

  • Demystification of technology: Skills such as solar engineering, water testing, and dentistry are taught through hands-on, non-literacy-dependent methods.
  • Equity: Preference is given to women, Dalits, and Adivasis as trainees and decision-makers.
  • South–South cooperation: Through partnerships with the Indian Ministry of External Affairs and international agencies, women from many countries in Africa, Asia, the Pacific, and Latin America have been trained at Tilonia.
  • Sustainability: The model emphasises locally available materials, local labour, and minimum dependence on outside experts.

Recognition

Roy and the Barefoot College have received attention from international development institutions, the United Nations system, and major foundations. He has been listed by Time magazine among its annual selection of influential people, and his TED talk on "learning from a barefoot movement" has been widely circulated as an introduction to the Tilonia model.

References