Last month Mobile School organised a one-week exploratory expedition in Kolkata in West-Bengal state with the organization EkTara to investigate if the mobile school could add value to their daily work. EkTara is working in the southern slum areas of Topsia and Tiljala where a lot of migrants from neighboring states are settling upon arrival in Kolkata.
In a modern building the organisation is running an accessible school program to offer opportunities to the children from these areas. During the exploration we explored if the organization could reach more kids in the area by strengthening the community outreach program with a mobile school. After a positive exploration week, there is a high chance that we might implement the first Indian mobile school in the first half of 2017.
Afterwards we also met with familiar faces during a follow-up week with our partner LEEDO in Dhaka in neighboring Bangladesh. Since June 2015 the organization is working with the mobile school. Despite the many challenges on the streets in a metropolis like Dhaka, the follow-up week was the ideal moment to reconnect with the street educators and to collaborate to look how we can overcome the barriers to make the mobile school interventions more efficient.
For a short impression on the outreach work of LEEDO in Bangladesh, check out the video below.
