VOLUNTEER builders - with no skills necessary - are needed to spend a month building a school in India.

Oxford paediatrician Sreena Das, from Woodbine Place, off Oxpens Road, is looking for a team to lead a £6,000 building project in West Bengal.

She is working on behalf of the charity Hands Around the World, which is responding to a request from the rural community of Sarberia, near Calcutta.

The team of between six and eight people will help build primary school classrooms and a vocational training centre for underprivileged children and women.

Ms Das, 30, who is studying for a PhD at Lady Margaret Hall, said: "Volunteers don't really need any skills, they just need to be committed and enthusiastic - and want to learn about another culture.

"They will learn about different people and about themselves as well. It will give them an incredible sense of fulfilment."

When the community's primary school opened it had 20 pupils. That figure has grown to 108, with many more clamouring for admission.

Ms Das, originally from West Bengal, last visited the community in December and said she was looking forward to returning.

Hands Around the World chief executive Dr David Steiner said: "We are looking for a cross-section of people to join the team - both young and mature, men and women, skilled and keen amateurs.

"The project is definitely not a holiday, though it will unquestionably be the experience of a lifetime.

"The work will be hard, in sometimes very difficult conditions, but the memories will be un- forgettable."

Hands Around The World plans to send the Oxford-based volunteers to India in November and have them back home for Christmas.

Volunteers do not need to worry about vaccinations, language barriers, accommodation or flights, although the team is expected to help with further fundraising.

The provisional deadline for volunteers to come forward is Friday. To find out more call Ms Das via Hands Around the World on 01600 712020.