One in eight people across the world lives in slums.  In 2014, an estimated 881 million urban residents lived in poor informal settlements in developing countries (UN Habitat Report, 2016). These numbers are especially high in India where the 2011 census found that more than 17 percent of urban Indian households live in slums.  Although Mumbai is one of the wealthiest cities in India and the most populous, it has an extraordinarily high percentage of slum dwellers; in the region of 6.5 million people, or 55% of the population, constituting 12% of the geographic area of the city.

In Mumbai, slums are recognised by the government if they were settled on government-owned land before 2000.  Almost half of Mumbai’s slums are not recognised; practically, this means their residents are classed as squatters with no security of tenure and they are not entitled to access services such as water supplies and sanitation.

Zenith Education currently works in 5 slum pockets in the Malwani area of north western Mumbai, which are not recognised.  Our aim is to ensure no child is denied the opportunity of an education just because they live in a slum that is not recognised by the authorities.