NGO Door Step School (DSS) was established by Mrs. Rajani Paranjpe and her student Ms. Bina Lashkari in Mumbai, India in 1989 with the aim of addressing illiteracy amongst the marginalized sections of society. It expanded to Pune in 1993.

DSS provides education and support to the often-forgotten children of pavement and slum dwellers, construction site families and many other underprivileged families. Many of these children are not enrolled in schools and have limited or no access to any form of education. They are forced to drop out of school to work or care for younger children. With neither support nor resources at home, these children, very often, suffer from very low learning levels. Door Step School is trying to bridge this gap by bringing education to the “Doorstep” of these underprivileged children. It has enriched the lives of over one million children with a holistic approach through innovative Community and School intervention programs.

In 2019-20, these programs covered over 79,000 children in Pune. Its well-trained staff of 500+ and over 200 volunteers work together to ensure the success of the programs. The work of DSS is enabled greatly by CSR funding and donations. It replies heavily on the contribution of its volunteers, who through their selfless efforts, enrich the DSS ecosystem in innumerable ways. They are also the NGO’s ambassadors, spreading awareness to help children attain a better future.

DSS also has ‘Parivartan’ – Training Centre, which trains teachers by offering new teachers’ trainings, refresher trainings, child care etc and Publication that publishes graded learning material in Marathi language including graded learning books, story books and teaching tools with 71 titles, 20 Marathi teaching tools, 24 Mathematics teaching tools and 15 Balwadi teaching tools.

DSS re-designed its programs to adapt to the change in 2021 and continued the process of learning for more than 55,000 children. The economic impact created by COVID-19 has increased its challenges manifold. DSS made all efforts to see that children’s education remained unaffected. But it needs support to continue working with them by way of funding, donations in kind and volunteering.