The Year 4’s did the Paper Bag challenge today. Each group represented a family living in a crowded and poor shantytown in Kolkata. There is a huge demand for paper bags, which are mainly made by women and children from the poorest families. The class learnt how to make paper bags using just paper and glue and had 20 minutes to make as many as they could. They received 1 rupee for every 10 bags produced. They then scaled this up to how much they could earn in a 10-hour working day and in a week.
Once they knew how much they could earn making paper bags, the children considered how much basic living costs in Kolkata are and were surprised to find out that they couldn’t earn enough money to live. They demonstrated some fantastic teamwork, very adept paper folding and a growing understanding of how poverty in developing countries affects children the same age as them.