“Earlier, when it rained, water used to fall from the roof. Now there is no such tension, and we can concentrate on our studies.”
For years, rainy days at school meant something very different for Aastha Kohle and Yogeshwari Chamat.
At Gardiner High School in Nagpur’s Civil Lines, the girls had watched rainwater seep through their classroom roof. Tiles had fallen, plaster had come off the walls, and parts of the building had grown unsafe. The school had stood there since 1933, and its age was beginning to show in ways that affected the children studying inside it.
Then came the summer break.
When Aastha and Yogeshwari returned to school, the difference was impossible to miss. The roof had been repaired. The classrooms were brighter. Colourful illustrations from their syllabus covered the walls, and spaces that had once felt neglected had been thoughtfully redesigned.
There was also a science lab, which soon became one of their favourite places in school.
“Our walls look beautiful, and there are pretty paintings in our classrooms,” they say.
From science concepts to mathematical formulae, the walls now turn everyday classroom spaces into extensions of the lesson.
For the girls, the change has shaped how they feel at school too. Their confidence has grown, they say, and the lessons they once encountered only in books now surround them in their classrooms. Science concepts and mathematical formulae appear on the walls, turning the school itself into part of how they learn.
That idea, of creating a school environment that supports children as they learn, is central to Zero Gravity’s work.
It began with a girl erasing her notebook
Zero Gravity is a youth-led initiative working under the Dr Shrikant Jichkar Foundation, founded by Maitri Jichkar in memory of her late father. Started in Nagpur in 2008, the organisation works across education, healthcare and rural development, with education at the heart of its work.
Maitri’s decision to focus on school infrastructure grew out of a moment she witnessed years ago.
Around 2010-11, while visiting a government school where her organisation was supporting students with stationery, she walked into a classroom with a leaking roof. Children had crowded into the part of the room where it was not raining. There was little furniture, and some students did not even have school bags.
Then she noticed a girl carefully erasing something from her notebook.
When Maitri asked her why, the girl replied that if she did not erase what she had written that day, she would have nothing to write on the next day.
Maitri Jichkar’s journey with school transformation began with a girl erasing her notebook because she had no pages left to write on.
“That just stuck with me,” Maitri recalls. “I realised the vast gap between opportunities.”
For her, the question was also one of dignity.
“Just because a child comes from an underprivileged family doesn’t mean that our system has to offer him something that he thinks he deserves,” she says. “No child should have to live or learn this way.”
The experience eventually led to the Happy School Project, which began around 2013 with a simple goal: transform government schools into places where children could learn with a sense of pride and belonging.
What if the walls could help children learn?
In its early years, Zero Gravity depended largely on volunteers who would pick up paintbrushes and work with local communities to brighten schools.
But Maitri soon realised that painting walls addressed only one part of a school’s needs.
Today, the organisation’s team of architects and designers looks at everything from lighting, ventilation, toilets and furniture to teaching aids, playgrounds and learning spaces.
The building itself also becomes a teaching tool.
Through what Zero Gravity calls ‘Building as a Learning Aid’, the team maps concepts from the school curriculum and incorporates them into the physical environment.
A science concept might appear on a classroom wall. Mathematical formulae can become part of the design. Writing surfaces and interactive spaces are created so that teachers can use the building while teaching.
For Zero Gravity, repairing a school is only the beginning — the team also rethinks lighting, ventilation, furniture, learning spaces and how children experience them.
“The core is to integrate and increase the educational value of the school building,” Maitri explains.
The process begins with a needs assessment, followed by a detailed study of the building, budgeting and design. Architects create drawings and 3D models, while the team works on curriculum integration, artwork and space optimisation. Artists, labourers, local vendors and volunteers then help bring those plans to life, with Zero Gravity supervising the work.
The small volunteer-led effort now works alongside municipal corporations, Zilla Parishads, district administrations and CSR partners.
The organisation has transformed more than 150 schools so far and currently has a waiting list of nearly 1,000 schools.
Transformation began with a falling brick
At Gardiner High School, the government school in Nagpur where Aastha and Yogeshwari study, the first challenge was safety.
The 1933 structure had deteriorated to a point where two classrooms were no longer being used because the roof was considered unsafe. The principal, Mrs Shveta Dhalwale, remembers the school before the transformation as a place where leaking roofs, falling tiles, damaged plaster and waterlogged areas had become part of everyday life.
In fact, one incident made the need for intervention even more urgent.
A brick once fell from a ventilator in the last room of the building while children were playing outside. Thankfully, no one was hurt.
Principal Dhalwale shares, “Whenever I go to that room, I thank God that nothing happened that day.”
When Zero Gravity first came in, the school did not expect a transformation of this scale.
“We thought they would fix the tiles and plaster a few rooms,” Dhalwale says. “But this is beyond our expectations.”
The team first had to address the basics, including the roof and other structural repairs. Even seemingly simple work such as electrical wiring had to be carefully planned because the old walls could not safely be drilled into.
At Gardiner High School, years of leaking roofs, falling tiles and damaged plaster gave way to classrooms designed with children and learning in mind.
With the structure made safe, the team turned to the spaces where children would learn.
Classrooms were redesigned with colourful, curriculum-linked artwork. Science concepts appeared on walls, along with visuals such as the solar system and the Arabian desert. The science lab and other learning spaces were also redesigned.
The children joined in, too.
They painted, created artwork and helped make the new spaces their own.
‘We have to preserve it for the next classes’
For Dhalwale, one of the most heartening changes has been the way students now interact with their surroundings.
Earlier, children would sometimes draw on the walls. Today, they see those same walls as part of their learning space, and something worth protecting.
“They know we have to preserve it for the next classes,” she says.
She has noticed other changes too. Attendance has improved, and students have started bringing their friends to the school to seek admission.
The difference is visible inside the classroom as well. Dhalwale says the transformed spaces have made teaching more joyful for teachers and students alike.
The Building as a Learning Aid approach brings the curriculum into the classroom itself, turning walls and everyday spaces into teaching tools.
“It is a happy teaching and learning place, both for the students and teachers,” says Dhalwale. “We enjoy teaching with a joyful atmosphere around.”
And the transformation has continued beyond the renovation itself.
Zero Gravity continues to work with the school on its needs. A library space is now being developed, with plans to eventually use storytelling there to open conversations about healthcare and mental wellbeing with children.
‘Create a space where children can explore’
For Samiran Ghodmare, a counselling psychologist and Zero Gravity volunteer, the work has changed how he looks at education.
When he first joined the Happy School Project, he wondered how much changing a physical space could really mean to a child. His work had centred on children’s mental health, but Zero Gravity made him realise that the basics come first.
“Before even working on anyone’s mental health, the basic needs should first be fulfilled,” he says.
He began to see a school as both a place of learning and, for many children, their first comfortable space outside home. If that space feels neglected or unsafe, it becomes harder for them to be curious, creative or even open up.
The children now see their walls differently — not as surfaces to draw on, but as learning spaces they want to protect for those who come after them.
Samiran has also seen how change inspires people to contribute. Volunteers who arrive for a few days often stay on, taking responsibility for more schools, connecting donors or offering their professional skills.
“You want the children to be more interactive with the space,” Samiran says. “We need to create a space where it gives them an opportunity to explore their mind, their creativity and their world.”
That same thinking is shaping Gardiner’s next learning space. As Zero Gravity continues working with the school, Samiran is helping develop a library where storytelling can eventually open conversations around mental and physical health.
When the neighbourhood started showing up
The transformation at Gardiner also changed how the neighbourhood saw the school.
As the work progressed, people began contributing in their own ways — from stationery and computers to furniture. A private school even donated its old furniture, which was still in good condition.
Maitri has seen this ripple effect across other projects too.
The transformation has also brought the neighbourhood closer, with people contributing stationery, computers and furniture to the school.
At one government school, teachers had pooled money to buy scholarship-exam books, while children sometimes tore one textbook into three parts so they could share it. After Zero Gravity built and stocked a library, more students began preparing for scholarship exams, with several eventually earning scholarships. The space also became a study centre for young people in the community.
In another village, a community hall that had remained unused for 15 years was repaired and painted. Soon, residents began organising cleanliness drives, while the administration decided to develop a library and study centre there.
For Maitri, these moments show how a physical transformation can change what a community believes is possible.
“We are just raising the standard of how these places should look,” she says. “So that becomes a minimum standard.”
A place that tells a child: you matter
Today, children at Gardiner High School walk into classrooms where the roof no longer leaks, lessons continue on the walls, and a library is being built for them.
For Zero Gravity, a school is more than a building — it is a child’s first reminder that their learning, safety and dreams matter.
Maitri believes that giving children the right opportunities today can shape generations to come. For her, the larger purpose of Zero Gravity is to create spaces that show children they are worthy of care.
“I just want children to feel that the system, and society in general, knows how to care for them,” she says. “I want them to know that they matter.
All images courtesy Zero Gravity
