ReStore: Redefining Consumption and Community

At Shiv Nadar School, Noida, ReStore reimagines consumption as a living classroom, where students, staff, and parents learn sustainability, financial prudence, and collective responsibility through shared community action.

The etymology of consume means ‘to destroy by separating into parts that cannot be reunited’. The students of Shiv Nadar School, Noida, embarked on a journey to challenge this hegemony by designing a space named ReStore, a space that falls under the larger ambit of sustainability. This is where the students and the school fraternity are encouraged to visualise ‘consumption’ as absorbing, sharing, and coexisting. ReStore also serves as a pedagogical tool for teaching and learning.

Borrowing from social pedagogy, the students aimed to create a space for dialogue around mindfulness and the environment, addressing the needs of the community, promoting collaboration, and identifying and addressing the root causes of various issues related to the environment and decision-making. ReStore also serves as a shared learning space for the community’s growth and collaboration.

It explores the ethical dimensions of the 'market system', and all stakeholders (students, teachers, and support staff) attempt to realise that the essence of 'profit' lies in how it is earned, and what is done with the earnings.

The students have given this idea a tangible shape and have designed it as a ‘shared space’, where we organise occasional sales of pre-loved items given by the students, support staff, teachers, and parent community. Our support staff members are encouraged to refurbish and re-purpose pre-loved items and sell their contributions to the school community, thereby helping them generate an alternative source of income.

Giving old treasures a new life

Paper recycling unit on campus

The pedagogical underpinning of ReStore has led the students, teachers, and the support staff to learn the financial matters of fiscal prudence like saving, budgeting, being credit savvy, and the importance of delayed gratification in today’s age and time.

It allows them to develop their agency, and provides an opportunity to recognise that human flourishing requires that we feel, hold, hear, and humanise. By design, the school’s support staff are equal partners in this teaching and learning experience, fostering inclusivity and shared agency.

Guided by the principles of Regenerative Economics, we have imagined ReStore as a metaphor for ‘collective development’, empowering all the members of the community.

It aims to restore a mindful balance between the capacity of the ecosystem to provide and human needs. It is a space to find grace in giving and receiving, to value what we need, and to find one's voice and agency to create a sustainable future.

Anisha Madhukar

Dr. Anisha Madhukar, Deputy Head-Senior Years, at Shiv Nadar School, Noida, is an IB Economics educator and passionate pedagogue. With a Doctorate in Economics specialising in International Trade, she began her career as a Faculty and Research Fellow at IIFT before holding senior roles at Infosys and HSBC. A published author, she contributes to print media and academic journals, and has presented at international forums, including the Cambridge Faculty of Education and the IB Manthan Conference in India.