The Train Platform Schools of India
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A train platform is where you wait for a train inside a train station. The train stops at the platform to let people on and off. Then the train moves on its way to the next station.

 

India is a big country with billions of people. Millions of these people use trains to get around. India has many trains and many train platforms. Many poor people live near these train platforms. They have children, but very little money. They can’t afford to send their children to school. The children have to help make money somehow, so they go to the train platforms to beg for money.

 

Inderjit is a teacher who lives in India and taught in an elementary school for many years. She saw these children every day as she rode the train to work. She wanted to help them, so she left her job to start a free school for these children. She knew the children couldn’t go to school, so she brought school to the children. The school was on the train platform.

 

Inderjit teaches reading, math, and how to be healthy. She makes the learning fun. She sings songs with the children. She dances with them. She plays games with them. She even makes puppet shows.

 

Only 20 children came at first, and then the word spread. Soon there were 50 and then more than 100 children going to Inderjit’s school. The children can come and go. They can leave when they need to. This makes it easy for the children to go to school.

 

Inderjit’s saw how her school helped so many children. She wanted to help even more children, so she hired a teacher and opened another school. Then she hired more teachers and opened more schools. Today, she has more than 70 schools. The schools are on different train platforms. She does not teach at every school. Each school has a different teacher.

 

Inderjit has to find money to pay for the schools. Nice people donate money to support Inderjit’s schools. They want to help Inderjit help these children.

 

Inderjit’s schools help many children. They learn to read, learn math, and learn how to live healthier lives. They also learn how to find jobs so that can make money and help their families.