For more than 25 years, SATHI’s Access to Education Program has worked with civil society organisations to improve educational opportunities for children living in urban marginalised settings. This experience has demonstrated that getting a child into school is an important first step—but it is rarely enough to change the course of a child’s life. For children growing up in poverty, migration, insecure livelihoods and unsafe environments, education is often competing with the immediate demands of survival.

Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad illustrate this reality sharply. Rapid industrialisation has attracted large numbers of migrant families seeking employment, many of whom live in informal settlements, pavements, near railway tracks and other insecure locations. Children growing up in these circumstances face overlapping risks: school exclusion and dropout, child labour, begging, substance use, trafficking, violence, neglect, early marriage and sexual exploitation. A 2018 Save the Children survey identified 14,627 street-connected children across 12 hotspots in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad, while a Pune Municipal Corporation survey identified 10,427 children in street situations across 76 wards, with around 60% not attending school. These figures point not merely to an education problem, but to a broader crisis of protection, care and opportunity.

The challenge is therefore not simply to enrol children in school. Many children require sustained support to remain there, recover from difficult experiences, develop confidence and life skills, and transition successfully into adolescence and adulthood. Girls face additional and often less visible risks, including domestic responsibilities, early marriage, trafficking and sexual exploitation. Their protection and development require gender-responsive services rather than one-size-fits-all interventions.

There are also significant gaps in the existing child protection ecosystem. Although government mechanisms, schools, police, Child Welfare Committees and child protection institutions exist, children and families often struggle to access them at the right time. Identification and referral may be delayed, coordination between institutions can be fragmented, and frontline functionaries require stronger capacity to respond in child-friendly and gender-sensitive ways. Families themselves may have limited knowledge of child protection laws, government entitlements and positive parenting practices. For children affected by substance use, the absence of accessible bridge education, psychosocial care, de-addiction support and rehabilitation pathways further increases the risk of long-term exclusion.

The response therefore needs to move from isolated interventions to a life-cycle, community-based and systems-oriented model. The proposed approach will be built around four interconnected pillars: Prevention, Response, Rehabilitation and Advocacy across 32 urban communities in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad.

Prevention will focus on reaching children and families before risks escalate. Community outreach, awareness initiatives, school-based interventions and strengthened child protection committees will help identify children at risk of street life, dropout, child labour, substance use, trafficking and early marriage. Particular attention will be given to girls and other children facing heightened vulnerabilities.

Response will ensure that children already experiencing violence, exploitation, street life or substance use receive timely and appropriate support. SATHI will strengthen coordination with police, Child Welfare Committees, the District Child Protection Unit and other relevant services. Accessible Contact Points/Empowerment Centres will provide safe spaces where children and parents can seek information, counselling, psychosocial support, sports, extracurricular activities and career guidance.

Rehabilitation and reintegration will go beyond rescue. Hope and Learning Centres (CAMP) will provide vulnerable and substance-affected children with bridge education, life skills, Mental Health and Psychosocial Support, de-addiction support and need-based vocational pathways. Where safe and appropriate, children will be supported to reconnect with their families and schools, while families will be linked with social protection schemes and livelihood-related services. The objective is to restore not only a child’s access to education, but also relationships, dignity, confidence and a sense of belonging.

Finally, Advocacy and systems strengthening will address the structural gaps that allow children to remain vulnerable. Engagement with government, schools, police, civil society and other duty bearers will promote stronger implementation of child protection laws and more child-friendly, gender-sensitive practices. Evidence generated through field interventions will be used to strengthen institutional responses and influence policy and practice.

Ultimately, the programme seeks to shift the narrative from “rescuing children from risk” to “building systems in which children can safely grow, learn, recover and thrive.” Its success will be reflected not only in fewer children living or working on the streets, but in more children staying in education, accessing protection and health services, recovering from addiction and trauma, building trusted relationships, exercising their rights and making informed choices about their futures.

This is the transition from an access-to-education approach to a life-cycle approach one that recognises that vulnerable children need not just a place in school, but sustained protection, care, opportunity and pathways to a secure and dignified adulthood.