The Royal Couple visited Door step School in Mumbai, India

The Royal Couple together with Bina Seth Lashkari, founder of Door Step School. Photo: The Embassy of Sweden, New Delhi

On 2-6 December 2019, the King and the Queen was on a State Visit in India on invitation by President Ram Nath Kovind. The purpose of the visit was to strenghten the good relation between the countries, with focus on amongst other trade, innovation, climate and democraty.

During the third day the Royal Couple visited a public school in a slum area in eastern Mumbai. The pupils at this school get extra support in their education Door Step School.

The organisation Door Step School, was founded in 1988 by Bina Lashkari with the purpose to make education available for the children who lives on the street in the slums of Mumbai. They started with 25 children and today Door Step School give extra educational support to 100 000 children each year in Mumbai and Pune. This is done through collaboration with public schools within the frame of  ”School Partnership Project”. Door Step School make available their own teachers and all forms of education is done during ordinary class time, with a focus on reading and writing skills in hindi and oral presentation.

Care About the Children has during the years 2015-2018 given support to Door Step School so that they could start a collaboration with a new public school in Mumbai, Deonar Municipal School.

Thanks to the support from H.M. Queen Silvias’ Foundation, around 4 000 students have taken part of the extra educational support per year, with an average improvement of results for the whole school. 98 % of the children could read after Level 4, compared with national level of around 50 % reading skill after Level 5. Student attendance in slum areas is usually around 50 %, but in this school the attenance increased to 83%.

Door Step School continues to work in Deonar Municipal School with financial support from The National Stock Exchange in India.

The Royal Couple meets the students of the school. Photo: The Embassy of Sweden, New Delhi