slum children

For nearly 20 years, Irappa Naik worked hard and saved money to open a free school for poor children in Maharashtra

Most of the parents in this Delhi slum community work in the fields and they have no time to drop and pick-up their children from school. Here’s how this informal school is ensuring students don’t miss out on education

"We found vagrant kids working in fishing factories, scrap yards, chai shops, shoe polish stalls and even as domestic help or ragpickers. We brought them together and sat them in a class."

In fact, their efforts were instrumental in rescuing a teenage girl who was smuggled to India, married off at the age of 10, and gang-raped by the man and his brothers.

Khoj Community School was established under the Apni Shala Foundation, an organisation that works towards making life skills education accessible to children from government schools and low-income communities in Mumbai.

Shaila Brijnath and Neelu Khanna have infused hope and dreams of a future in 1,800 slum children in Dehradun.

The work of the volunteers begins right from identifying a runaway on the railway platform to safely handing them over to parents.

Hirin Dave, an Ahmedabad-based web developer, collects old toys and redistributes these among underprivileged children through her initiative.

Overcoming the lack of education in slum children requires an innovative approach. The non-formal classroom can become attractive for these kids with green open spaces, practical timings, and something thrown in for the mothers and the community.

Plastic drums, paint cans, buckets, glass bottles and throw away junk – what do you get when you bring all these together? “Music!” say the rag picking children of Mumbai’s Dharavi slum.