Think about the last handmade thing you bought. Maybe a Dokra figurine with its wobbly, charming imperfections or a Kantha shawl with a story in every running stitch. Now think about the last mass-produced thing you picked up. Do you remember who made it? Most of us do not.
It is a small question but it carries a lot more than it seems. Behind every terracotta horse of Bankura, every Baluchari saree and every Pattachitra scroll is someone whose skill was handed down through generations, a bit like a family recipe that never made it into a cookbook. However, these artisans now compete with factories that churn out lookalikes in minutes, at prices that make handmade work feel "expensive." Is it really expensive? Not when one counts the years of practice reflected in every piece.
Where does social responsibility come in? It is not only for governments and big companies. It can start at the checkout counter. The money we spend locally goes back into a community as school fees, a repaired loom or an apprentice's first chance. And all it asks of us is one small question: "Who made this?"
At Sushila Birla Girls' School, we believe responsibility is best learnt by doing. Swabhimaan, our social entrepreneurship unit, has turned that belief into SHE CAN, a project that teaches underprivileged women the art of crochet. Like Bengal's Kantha embroiderers who once turned worn cloth into art, these women began with a hook and a ball of yarn and now create pouches, flowers, key chains and scrunchies with growing pride. Every loop they knot carries a little more confidence than the one before it.
A craft alone does not guarantee a livelihood. That is why SHE CAN is now teaching the women to run their own sales stalls at the school’s Parent-Teacher Meetings, covering pricing, customer service and keeping accounts. Our classroom has real customers and the lessons come with real rupees. It is learning in its most practical form where every sale builds both income and self-belief.
This is what social responsibility truly looks like: not charity but opportunity. When we help a craftsperson earn with dignity, we protect a skill, strengthen a household and keep a tradition alive. In doing so, we remind ourselves that the young can be stewards of heritage, not merely its inheritors. Traditions do not endure on admiration alone; they endure when someone chooses to pass them on. SBGS Moira Street believes in taking meaningful strides towards nurturing this legacy by fostering empathy, collaboration and a deep sense of social responsibility among its students, empowering them to become active participants in preserving and sustaining traditional crafts because a craft that is valued today becomes a livelihood tomorrow, one stitch at a time.
Vaidehi Bagri 11S & Harshika Nahar 11C2
