Manzil

“I was doing my PhD (1993-1997) and was working on early detection of disabilities and referral. I found almost 8% cases of disabilities in slums of Kotla Mubarakpur, Garhi, Madangir etc, all from South Delhi. I used to refer the detected cases to various govt organisations and hospitals for intervention, where the parents, who were mostly daily wagers, spent full day, with no one attending to them. I discussed at home that we should have a centre where children with disabilities from poor resource communities could attend and were not sent back. My husband Sanjay said get in touch with Mrs. Indira Gulati who is a special educator. I got in touch, she jumped at the idea and said that after volunteering with schools for special children for 30 years, she has always wanted to have a her own school.

We started functioning from Mrs. Gulati’s home in Khan market in the beginning. I started sending children with disabilities to Khan Market and auntyji started managing them. But very few parents took their children as it involved spending on transportation as well as taking time off from work which they could not afford. We started supporting by giving transport allowance. But still there was difficulty. We continued in Khan market for a couple of months only. Thereafter, Mrs. Gulati and I went to Kotla looking for a place, and began as a preschool with inclusion as ideology. The school continues to this day, with a wonderful set of dedicated teachers from within the same community, who run the school as their own.

Dr. Geeta Chopra

For 14 years, Manzil ran from our home in Khan Market, where I lived with my mother and special needs sister. Khan Market is the most expensive area in all of South Asia, replete with designer boutiques and fine dining establishments. As such, the students and we lived surrounded by some of the richest and the most powerful citizens of Delhi.

The children and youth who over the last 22 years we have come to regard as our family – my buddies – grow up in the servant quarters of these upper-class denizens. They are children of housemaids and cooks, electricians and barbers, drivers and servants. At any given time, that’s as many as 250 students and teachers, Along with countless others who have spread their wings and traveled forth from our humble nest. And many return home, where they were nurtured and taught, to impart their newfound knowledge to the bright, curious, and inspired minds of the next generation.

Issues:- Providing a community and resources for local youth from low-income backgrounds to learn, teach, be creative, and see the world in new ways.