Pehchaan The Street School, a volunteer-driven nonprofit providing free education to 1600+ underprivileged students in Delhi-NCR, has entered its 10th year with active weekend teaching centers across multiple neighborhoods and a growing network of volunteers, interns, and monthly donor-members supporting access to learning, life skills, and healthcare interventions for marginalized communities.
Founded in 2015 and later registered as a trust, Pehchaan the street school
positions education as a right rather than a privilege, delivering on-ground classes in public spaces and community clusters and integrating skill-based exposure alongside basic literacy, with sessions currently running on Saturdays and Sundays
at centers including Indraprastha, Sunder Nursery, Dilshad Garden, Rohini, GTB Nagar, Mukherjee Nagar, and Noida Sector 35 during afternoon slots to align with family routines and volunteer availability.
“The rule is simple—show up, even in dhoop or baarish,” says a core team
member, describing how consistent presence built trust with families who feared formal classrooms and fees; over time, the routines, warm‑ups, phonics, numeracy, reading circles, and a weekly “good habits” huddle—have pulled thousands toward steady learning habits across Delhi‑NCR.
“Our goal is to give children a pehchaan, an identity, through education, by
removing cost and access barriers and making learning practical and opportunityled,” the organization states, emphasizing open volunteering, flexible internships with certification upon completion, and a membership model that enables individuals and companies to contribute monthly, sponsor children, and extend
CSR support under 80G and 12A registrations recognized by India’s Income Tax Act.
According to organizational materials and partner listings, the trust’s mission
extends beyond academics to community welfare: regular stationery and book supplies, medical camps with health professionals, skill development workshops, and seasonal blanket drives are conducted to meet immediate needs while sustaining school readiness and family well-being in low-income settlements across the city.
Operationally, Pehchaan the street school’s weekend timetable clusters most teaching from 3–5 pm at Indraprastha, Sunder Nursery, Dilshad Garden, and Rohini, and from 2–4 pm at GTB Nagar, Mukherjee Nagar, and Noida, providing consistency for children and volunteers and a replicable model for center
expansion across dense urban corridors in Delhi-NCR.
Program communications highlight a decade-long evolution from a small volunteer group to a registered trust with multiple centers and a student base referenced across public channels as exceeding a thousand learners, with social updates and
external profiles citing growth to ten centers and 1,600+ children engaged through classroom and community activities as the footprint expands across the region. Deepak Kumar, once a student at a Pehchaan the street school centre near ITO, cleared Class 12 with 86% and entered Delhi University, becoming a reference
point for parents who now see college as a reachable milestone; his story is part of a broader 94% pass rate among board‑exam takers and a steady trickle of alumni returning as volunteer‑mentors at their old centres.
In recent campaigns and blog features, the organization has showcased thematic initiatives such as “Pehchaan ki Diwali,” empathy-building activities for children, and exposure visits—including a student tour to Rashtrapati Bhavan, Kiran Nadar Museum of Arts, Pradhanmantri Sangrahalaya and many more—designed to fuel
aspirations, social confidence, and experiential learning beyond textbooks and blackboards.
Pehchaan invites the public to engage in three ways: volunteer on-ground or online without rigid commitments, intern across roles with certification upon completion, or become a member through monthly giving and sponsorship—each funnel aimed
at sustaining classes, supplies, and welfare drives while scaling the reach to new neighborhoods in the coming year. With consistent weekend schedules, a flexible participation model, and a decade of grassroots delivery, Pehchaan The Street School continues to operationalize a simple promise—bring learning to the child, wherever the child is—and translate that access into identity, dignity, and long-term opportunity for families historically excluded from formal education.
