A Signal Achievement

Happiness delivery: A school that operates under a flyover at a busy junction provides underprivileged street children education, three square meals a day, and also trains them in life skills

- DHAVAL KULKARNI

I am yet to make up my mind, but I want to become a policeman," says Kiran Chandrakant Kale, a Class 10 student, as portraits of Mahatma Gandhi and former president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam stare at him benignly from the walls of his classroom. Kale is not just another student spelling out his career goal. He is among the underprivileged street children being educated at a 'signal shala', a school located under a flyover at the busy Teen Haat Naka in Thane.

The students in this unique school belong to migrant families from de-notified tribes. They once sold flowers and trinkets or even begged at the traffic signal. Out of the educational mainstream, they ran the risk of being sucked into a vortex of substance abuse and crime.