Taking Classrooms to Children

 The buses can only hold 20 students, without much space to wiggle around or store books. But they have unique benefits — like their ability to reach many of Mumbai’s poorest migrants who live on illegal plots of land where schools can’t be built. PHOTO: Karen Dias

The buses can only hold 20 students, without much space to wiggle around or store books. But they have unique benefits — like their ability to reach many of Mumbai’s poorest migrants who live on illegal plots of land where schools can’t be built. PHOTO: Karen Dias

Mumbai’s education system has fallen gravely short of absorbing its children. Only 400,000 children were enrolled in municipal schools in 2014, according to a report by Praja, a non-partisan research and advocacy organization. That number actually dropped 11 percent since 2009, despite increased government spending on education.That leaves more than half of the children in Mumbai either out of school or learning in private institutions. At least 37,000 kids in Mumbai live on the streets and work with their parents to earn a few cents a day, according to advocacy organization Action Aid.

Medium brings you more on how a collaborative system of volunteers, activists and NGOs is transforming the darkness of ignorance in one of India’s largest cities.

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Introducing Taxi Fabric

In Mumbai, India—a city of nearly 19 million people—over 50,000 taxis pick up at least 25 to 30 people every day. For the majority of Mumbaikars, the iconic black and yellow taxis are the most convenient form of transportation in the city. And now a new vehicle of design, dialogue, and a sense of belonging – thanks to the Taxi Fabric project.

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