Under Mumbai Flyover, ‘Signal Shala’ Offers Street Children a Path to Education

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Mumbai: The distinctive school located beneath a crowded flyover in Mumbai is supporting some of the city's disadvantaged children in obtaining an education, providing hope to children who would otherwise remain outside the traditional school system. The "Signal Shala" (Traffic Signal School) initiative uses brightly painted shipping containers as classrooms for homeless and migrant children.

Bhatu Sawant, a social worker, founded the free school to educate children who frequently spend their days begging, selling tiny products at traffic signals, or helping their families survive through informal jobs. Despite India's laws requiring free education for children aged six to fourteen, poverty, migration, and unstable living conditions keep many children away from school.

‘These children can’t go to a regular school. So I thought, let's bring the school to them,’ Sawant remarked, explaining the inspiration for the initiative.

Located among Mumbai's high skyscrapers and congested roadways, the school gives lessons, meals, and a safe atmosphere for children to learn and play. The program intends to close the gap between marginalised children and the formal school system, offering them a more stable future.