Across Mumbai, thousands of children live and work on the streets or in slum settlements far from any classroom. Many have never been enrolled in school; others drop out because getting there is simply impossible.
Doorstep School's answer is disarmingly practical. It rebuilds buses as fully working classrooms and drives them to the streets where its pupils live. On board, qualified teachers deliver the foundations — reading, writing and arithmetic — alongside lessons in basic hygiene, health and safety, preparing children to move into mainstream school.
On wheels
School on Wheels
A school that drives to the children.
Some children can't get to a classroom — so ours have wheels. Child Action supports two School on Wheels buses, run alongside the Hemraj Goyal Foundation: classrooms that park where the children already are, across 12 Mumbai neighbourhoods.
The bus comes back for the same children every single day — a bright, safe, familiar space — with regular home visits to keep attendance on track.
750+ street children reached every year — more girls than boys
Literacy proficiency rose from 60% to 92% over the year
Numeracy proficiency rose from 58% to 96%
31 children moved on into formal school
The 2025–26 school year, in numbers
Because we fund this work directly, we can tell our supporters exactly what their money did. From Doorstep School's annual report for April 2025 – March 2026:
757 street children reached — half as many again as the 500 the year set out for, with 400 of them girls (53%).
67% of last year's pupils continued with the programme — a sign of the trust these communities place in the bus.
420 children joined the library and reading programme, 135 the computer programme, and 180 took part in mental-health sessions.
On board our bus · Mumbai
One of this year's report stories: nine-year-old Neelam was often unwell, rarely allowed outdoors, and school wasn't a priority at home. After a Doorstep teacher's home visits, she now rides the bus every day, her health has improved — and she's discovered a special interest in mathematics.
