<p>Raja Kumar, 13, hadn’t dreamt he would ever go to school. He lived on Delhi’s streets, rummaging through garbage for a living and playing with other street kids. <br /><br /></p>.<p>Today the boy has got admission in a government school - thanks to a mobile learning centre. <br /><br />Kumar, a resident of a slum in Okhla area here, received basic elementary education at the mobile centre launched last month by Save the Children to educate street and slum children.<br /><br />“I was lucky to get a chance to study. I don't think I ever could have. I am getting a sense of direction towards further studies and employment,” Kumar said.<br /><br />Like him other children from similar background are looking towards a better future by joining this mobile learning centre. Housed in a gleaming, swanky yellow bus, the learning centre is bridging the gap between streets and schools for children usually found ragpicking or begging. <br /><br />It equips children with preparatory and elementary education. To keep the children hooked to studies, the bus is equipped with graphical story books, LCD television, cushioned couches and wooden cupboards.<br /><br />“The idea is to get these kids admitted in municipal primary schools after some preparatory education at our centre,” Zahir Elias, the project coordinator, said.<br /><br />The bus parks itself at a spot and conducts school every alternate day of the week for children in two shifts in the age group 3 to 5 and 6 to 14.<br /><br />The school on wheels was result of a survey by the NGO which found that parents were willing to send their children to school if it did not interfere with their work as earning members.<br /><br />Elias said, post the survey, we had a series of motivational interaction with the community.<br /><br />The mobile centre aims to cover over 2,000 streets in the capital.</p>
<p>Raja Kumar, 13, hadn’t dreamt he would ever go to school. He lived on Delhi’s streets, rummaging through garbage for a living and playing with other street kids. <br /><br /></p>.<p>Today the boy has got admission in a government school - thanks to a mobile learning centre. <br /><br />Kumar, a resident of a slum in Okhla area here, received basic elementary education at the mobile centre launched last month by Save the Children to educate street and slum children.<br /><br />“I was lucky to get a chance to study. I don't think I ever could have. I am getting a sense of direction towards further studies and employment,” Kumar said.<br /><br />Like him other children from similar background are looking towards a better future by joining this mobile learning centre. Housed in a gleaming, swanky yellow bus, the learning centre is bridging the gap between streets and schools for children usually found ragpicking or begging. <br /><br />It equips children with preparatory and elementary education. To keep the children hooked to studies, the bus is equipped with graphical story books, LCD television, cushioned couches and wooden cupboards.<br /><br />“The idea is to get these kids admitted in municipal primary schools after some preparatory education at our centre,” Zahir Elias, the project coordinator, said.<br /><br />The bus parks itself at a spot and conducts school every alternate day of the week for children in two shifts in the age group 3 to 5 and 6 to 14.<br /><br />The school on wheels was result of a survey by the NGO which found that parents were willing to send their children to school if it did not interfere with their work as earning members.<br /><br />Elias said, post the survey, we had a series of motivational interaction with the community.<br /><br />The mobile centre aims to cover over 2,000 streets in the capital.</p>