TRANSPORT WITH CARE

Twelve bright yellow-coloured buses are doubling up as schools to educate street children in Ahmedabad

- JUMANA SHAH

Eight-year-old Anita Solanki’s tryst with education began on a hot summer day last year when a bright yellow-colored bus rolled into her poor neighbourhood in Ahmedabad. The daughter of an auto-rickshaw driver who was struggling to make ends meet, today, she attends an international school in the city. Like Anita, around 415 poor or homeless children, who had either never attended school or were forced to drop out, have been enrolled in regular schools after completing a bridge course from 12 such buses that double up as ‘Signal Schools’.

Launched in March 2022 by the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) in collaboration with the Gujarat State Legal Services Authority (GSLSA), these buses pick up street children, aged between six and 14 years, around 7-8 in the morning and drop them off back in the afternoon.