ROBOTICS AND AI
For the students, the school serves as a sanctuary from the harshness of the real world.
“I feel very happy seeing the school bus,” said 12-year-old Pooja Pawar, whose parents take on odd jobs at construction sites.
“The school clothes feel nice. The breakfast is good … In school, we make cake … and dance.”
For others, it represents an opportunity long denied.
Balaji Laxman, who once sold tissues at traffic lights to earn a few hundred rupees – the equivalent of several US dollars – a day, said the classrooms represent a chance to imagine a different future.
“I want to become a doctor,” Laxman, 12, said with a shy smile.
While the school steers many children towards vocational pathways, Sawant said the broader ambition is to ensure they are not left behind in a rapidly changing world.
“We have to prepare them for the 21st century,” said Sawant, who has set up two similar schools on the outskirts of Mumbai which have robotics labs among other facilities.
“They should know robotics, AI, computers, 3D printing,” said the educator who relies on private and corporate donations for funding, with the government helping with the infrastructure.
“Everything that elite class children are doing well in, they should know all of that.”
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