Mumbai collegians show Mankhurd slum children the way to school

Students across city colleges have joined voluntary groups and NGOs to ensure that the school enrolment rate of children living in the slum pockets of Mumbai improves. Due to their efforts, 65% of children, who did not attend school in Mandale, Mankhurd, have now started going to school.

To get an insight on the number of non-school going children, the students of St Andrews College (Bandra), Lala Lajpatrai College (Mahalakshmi) and Wilson College (Charni Road) in May conducted a survey in the slums of Mandale, Mankhurd. The collegians are aiming to send these children to schools. The survey found out that children were not being admitted to schools due to financial problems at home, chores assigned by elders and lack of advice on how to pursue education.

After the survey in August, the team of volunteers and students enrolled about 65% of children from the area in schools. As travelling expenses and school fees were major hurdles for the families, the NGOs, Vision Rescue and Movement India, built four learning centres in Mandale.

Biju Thampy, the founder of Vision Rescue, said, “If people want to see a difference then communities need to let the youth make a change.”

Each learning centre provides children with wholesome meals along with nutrition supplement and eggs.

Each class has a capacity of 30 students with a minimum of two batches every day.

“I earn ₹200 every day so sending my three children to school was nearly impossible for me. Now that there are schools in our area which don’t charge fees, I am happy that my children will be educated,” said the mother of a child in Mandale.

Stuti Jhadav, an SYBA student from Wilson College, said, “We were amazed to see that the centre had a good number of children attending it. Seeing them study was a fulfilling experience.”