Solar powered School bag boosts education prospects in Africa

Solar powered bag boosts education prospects of Ivorian school children

A trained lawyer has invented a schoolbag with a solar panel and lamp, which children in rural African villages can use to study when it is dark.

Evariste Akoumian, a 37-year-old from Ivory Coast was concerned about the impact a lack of electricity was having on the education of children living in rural areas and felt compelled to do something about it.

“I told myself that I had to help these children; find ways to make them autonomous. I found it unfair that they did not have the same opportunities as those who study in big cities, “said Evariste, whose bag costs around $23.  More than 70,000 bags have been sold not just in Ivory Coast but in African countries such as Burkina Faso and Gabon, as well as European countries such as France.