Nagpur-based social entrepreneur Maitreyi Jichkar’s Zero Gravity is transforming government schools through its Happy School Project, combining basic infrastructure improvements with curriculum-linked design to create more functional and engaging learning environments.
Founded in 2008, Zero Gravity began its school transformation work in Nagpur and has since expanded across multiple states, with Jichkar saying in 2026 that the project has crossed 100 government schools and created learning spaces for thousands of children. The project is built around the Building as Learning Aid (BaLA) concept, which turns walls, floors, corridors and other parts of a school building into teaching and learning resources.
Its work has included repairing water seepage and electrical systems, improving lighting, upgrading furniture and toilets, and creating curriculum-based visual aids. Partnerships with institutions including Infosys Foundation and ONGC have helped the initiative scale.
More Than Colourful Walls
The Happy School Project is not simply a school painting exercise. Zero Gravity identifies government schools where infrastructure and the learning environment need improvement, studies the existing space and curriculum, and then develops a design intervention through its architects and designers. Volunteers subsequently help execute the work.
The changes can begin with basic facilities: addressing water seepage, repairing electrical wiring, improving lights, upgrading benches and improving toilets and other parts of the school. Once those needs are addressed, the project uses BaLA to make the building itself part of the learning process. Walls can carry science or general knowledge concepts, floors can incorporate mathematics, and corridors and other spaces can become interactive learning areas.
The approach is based on the idea that a school’s physical environment can have educational value beyond simply providing a room in which teaching takes place.
A Journey That Started Young
Jichkar founded Zero Gravity in 2008, when she was still very young, under the Dr Shrikant Jichkar Foundation. She has described the organisation as growing from a belief that young people could come together to address problems around them rather than waiting for someone else to act.
The Happy School Project emerged from Zero Gravity’s work in education. Contemporary reporting from 2013 records the project’s early transformation of Nagpur Madhyamik Vidyalaya in Police Line Takli, where students themselves participated in the makeover. The team spent around two months studying the school and developing its plan before beginning the transformation.
The model subsequently moved beyond Nagpur. By 2018, Zero Gravity said it had transformed 50 schools across three states, impacting more than 5,000 children. By 2020, the organisation reported that its work had reached more than 25,000 children.
Scaling Through Partnerships
As the project expanded, corporate and institutional partnerships became an important part of its reach. Infosys Foundation has worked with the Dr Shrikant Jichkar Foundation on programmes aimed at transforming learning experiences for children in government schools, including using school buildings as learning aids and incorporating STEM education.
Jichkar has also highlighted the importance of creating what she calls dignified learning environments rather than simply attractive classrooms. In a recent update, she said the project had crossed the milestone of transforming 100+ government schools, with thousands of children experiencing the redesigned spaces.
The initiative has also attracted a sizeable volunteer network. Earlier reporting recorded 1,800 registered volunteers, illustrating how the project grew from a small youth-led effort into a larger community-driven model.
Impact Beyond Infrastructure
The project’s reported impact extends beyond the physical appearance of schools. Zero Gravity has said it conducts follow-up assessments to examine how teachers and students use the transformed infrastructure and whether the interventions are supporting learning.
There are also examples of changes in school participation. At an NMC school in Telangkhedi, student strength was reported to have increased from 57 in May 2019 to 152 within one academic session following the intervention. Zero Gravity has also reported improvements in attendance and learning outcomes across schools where it has worked, although such outcomes should be understood as project-reported rather than as evidence of a uniform effect across all 100+ schools.
The initiative and Jichkar have also received public recognition through speaking opportunities and social-impact platforms, while the Happy School Project has been featured by HundrED as an education innovation aimed at redesigning the schooling experience for children from underserved communities.
The Logical Indian’s Perspective
A school is more than a building, but the building still matters. A leaking roof, inadequate toilet or poorly lit classroom can affect a child’s everyday experience just as surely as a good teacher or useful textbook can enrich it.
Zero Gravity’s work offers an important reminder that dignity and learning are connected to the spaces in which children spend their days. At the same time, the need for such interventions raises a larger public question: should safe, functional and stimulating learning environments depend on the efforts of NGOs and volunteers, or should every government school be guaranteed these standards as a basic part of public education?
