Every year, thousands of migrant workers leave their homes to seek livelihoods in bustling cities. Amid the construction noise, their young children face vulnerabilities like child labour, poor academic performance, and poor well-being.

‘Tara Mobile Creches’, established in 1980 by Sindhutai Sawardekar, addresses these challenges through its focus on three pillars: health, nutrition, and education.

The organisation ensures the holistic development of children by providing age-appropriate meals, educational activities, and monthly health checkups for all children and pregnant mothers. For serious illnesses, they even accompany them to the hospital.

“The government is expected to provide daycare facilities to these children at construction sites, but often, a dai or mausi is hired instead. These women lack the skills to nurture children,” says Manjusha Doshi, CEO of Tara Mobile Creches Pune.

Manjusha adds, “There is ignorance at the parent level as they get busy in their construction work. If they leave the work, then they lose their daily wages.” To tackle this, Tara Mobile Creches sets up mobile daycare centres at construction sites.

Children are provided with nutritious meals three times a day, including milk, rice, pulses, and fruits. The organisation also helps migrant children enrol in government schools — even when they lack essential documents like Aadhaar cards or birth certificates.

“We even have additional coaching classes at the daycare to enhance the foundational learning that gets affected because of late schooling,” Manjusha shares. Activities such as arts, crafts, and sports also engage the children, building skills beyond the classroom.

As the construction work progresses, the mobile creches move with the families. Even after children grow up, Tara Mobile Creches continues to support them, helping them with a residential education facility, so that they can secure stable futures.

“After completing class 12, we use the results of an aptitude test to guide students in pursuing higher education aligned with their fields of interest,” Manjusha explains.

Smita (name changed) is a testament to the organisation's impact. She shares, “I’ve been associated with them since I was five. They helped me enrol in school and later stopped my child marriage with the help of the police. Today, she works in a financial company.

Her story is one among many. Over the years, Tara Mobile Creches has supported children aged 0-18, helping them pursue higher education and secure stable jobs. So far, they have reached 1,16,621 children from migrant families through 16 mobile creches around Pune.

Manjusha recounts a proud moment: “We recently held an alumni meet with 200 students, and it was overwhelming to see how they’ve excelled. Some work in multinational companies, others are principals or civil engineers.”