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No address, no Aadhaar, no problem: The school under a Mumbai flyover that starts with a bath and ends with robotics

Mumbai’s first school for street children, run from shipping containers, offers classrooms, labs, play areas and vocational training for street children

4 min readMumbaiUpdated: Mar 25, 2026 08:58 AM IST

Amar Mahal junction in Chembur, Santacruz-Chembur flyover, Signal Shala, Chembur, Mankhurd, Ghatkopar, Mumbai news, Maharashtra news, Indian express, current affairs

Students participate in different learning activities at the newly inaugurated school named Signal Shala, under the Santacruz-Chembur Link Road flyover at Amar Mahal junction, Chembur in Mumbai on 24 March 2026. Express photo by Sankhadeep Banerjee

BENEATH THE bustle of Amar Mahal junction in Chembur, a row of brightly painted shipping containers under the Santacruz-Chembur flyover houses an unusual school, one that begins not with textbooks, but with a bath, a meal and a uniform.

Called Signal Shala, the initiative is designed for children who live on Mumbai’s streets many of whom have never been inside a classroom. Every morning, a school bus winds through Chembur, Mankhurd and Ghatkopar, picking up nearly 20 children in the age bracket of 3-15 years, mostly children of street-dwelling families. The school day stretches up to eight hours, longer than a typical school, beginning with basic hygiene routines before moving to lessons.

The Chembur facility, inaugurated on Monday by Mayor Ritu Tawade, is the third such school set up by the Samarth Bharat Vyaspeeth Initiative, which began its first Signal Shala in Thane over a decade ago followed by one in Nerul. This school is the first in Mumbai.

“These children come from families that have lived on the city’s streets for generations,” said Bhatu Sawant, founder and CEO of the initiative. While municipal schools offer free education, he said, they often fail to attract street children. “Sending them to school means a financial loss to their families, as many earn Rs 100–200 a day selling items at signals,” he said.

At Signal Shala in Chembur, there is one container each for primary, secondary and pre-primary children to study. Whereas other containers have facilities such as science laboratory, library, computer and robotic lab. There is a separate toilet for boys and girls along with an operational kitchen to provide daily meals. Apart from play area for younger kids and small-scale ground for older ones, there is dedicated space for vocational training where older children learn trades such as plumbing, welding, carpentry.

The idea, said project head Aarti Parab, is to prepare children for both education and livelihood. “We want them to study till Class 10 and move towards higher education, but also ensure they don’t return to begging or street survival,” she said. Basic facilities like bathing are equally crucial. “For many families, even spending Rs 5 at a public toilet is unaffordable,” she added.

Students are grouped by age rather than grade, with teachers tailoring lessons to individual learning levels. Some children have dropped out of school, others are first-time learners.

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To integrate them into the formal system, the school also enrols children in nearby civic schools, a process often slowed by the lack of documents such as Aadhaar cards or birth certificates.

Keeping children in school, Parab said, is as challenging as enrolling them. “Unlike conventional households, no one ensures they attend daily,” she said. To address this, Signal Shala blends academics with play, activities and even group viewing sessions to make school a space children want to return to.

Recognising that many students belong to the Pardhi community, a nomadic tribe, Parab has also developed a customised curriculum and published learning material in the Pardhi language to make early education more accessible.

Pallavi Smart

Pallavi Smart is a Principal Correspondent with The Indian Express, Mumbai Bureau. Her reporting is singularly focused on the education sector, demonstrating exceptional Expertise and Authority across the entire spectrum of learning, from foundational schooling to advanced higher education. She is a highly Trustworthy source for policy, institutional developments, and systemic issues affecting students, teachers, and parents in Maharashtra. Expertise Senior Role: As a Principal Correspondent at The Indian Express, her designation reflects her seniority, specialized knowledge, and the editorial rigor applied to her reporting. Core Authority & Specialization: Pallavi Smart is the definitive voice for Education news in the region. Her coverage scope is comprehensive: Policy and Regulatory Changes: Reports on major shifts in educational policy, including the restructuring of entrance exams (e.g., MHT-CET adopting the JEE Main model), the draft regulatory framework for coaching classes, and revised teacher recruitment processes. Higher Education Institutions (HEIs): Provides in-depth reporting on prestigious institutes like IIT Bombay and TISS (Tata Institute of Social Sciences), covering institutional initiatives, administrative debates (e.g., renaming IIT Bombay), and student welfare programs (e.g., mandatory mental health courses). Teachers and Eligibility: Covers crucial issues affecting the teaching fraternity, such as the mandatory Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) for in-service teachers and related controversies and application numbers. Student Welfare & Rights: Focuses on issues concerning students, including the rollout of government scholarships, the financial strain on schools due to midday meal reimbursement delays, and instances of child rights violations (e.g., the Powai studio hostage crisis). Admissions and Vacancy: Tracks the outcome of centralized admission processes (e.g., MBBS, BPharm) and analyzes vacancy concerns, providing essential data-driven insights for parents and students. Credentials & Trustworthiness Dedicated Beat: Her consistent focus on the "KG to PG" education beat allows her to develop unparalleled subject matter knowledge, ensuring her reports are accurate, detailed, and contextualized. Proactive Reporting: Her articles frequently break news on policy and institutional planning, providing the public with timely, essential information about a sector that directly impacts millions of families. She tweets @Pallavi_Smart ... Read More

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