Haimanthi Sen – Teacher for Unprivileged Slum Kids

In Mumbai’s Kandivali station skywalk you can see a 25-year-old woman teaching a bunch of slum kids basic alphabets and life skills. She is Haimanthi Sen, the resilient young woman who founded the non-governmental organization called Junoon, which provides basic education to unprivileged kids for free.

Haimanthi’s life changed when she was 22 and saw kids begging on the streets. The questions in her mind were if these kids even knew about the right to education or the importance of education. She went in search of their parents who blatantly lied to her that they are indeed sending their children to school. Haimanthi then took it upon herself to educate these kids.

She founded a non-governmental organization called Junoon where several like-minded people are associated with this cause. They teach the children the alphabet, numbers, words, art and communication.

There are times when the kids run and hide in restaurants reluctant to study, and in case their parents find them. But Haimanthi has been resilient and has been teaching 15 slum kids basic education for the past few months. 

-Poorna Krishnan