In 2017, a free school was established in New Delhi under a bridge at a metro station on the Yamuna River. The voluntary school project offers slum children, for whom compulsory education is not enforced in India, an educational opportunity that can be attended by boys in the morning and girls in the afternoon. The school does not have a school building. The blackboard is a black rectangle painted on the wall, and classes take place on the floor under the active metro station, protected from sun and rain. The school headmaster is Rajesh Kumar Sharma, who runs a small shop around the corner from the school. Sharma founded the school in response to his daily observations on the ground. Teachers are volunteers who look after about 100 children of all grades. Ideally, the children will be able to return to a government school at a later date and join the school with their level of education. The children come from families where the parents are mostly day labourers on construction sites and in the fields. Most of them are illiterate, having come to the capital from the countryside.

Educational opportunities for slum children / connection to the school system

With its limited resources, the school under the bridge provides educational opportunities for the city's children.

Rajesh Kumar Sharma