The Indian free school founder teaches slum children under bridge

Underprivileged boys take down notes from a blackboard painted on a concrete wall at a free school run under a mass transit bridge in New Delhi, India on Dec. 11, 2012.

Rajesh Kumar Sharma, the founder of a free school for slum children, teaches a class at a free school for impoverished children under a mass transit bridge in New Delhi, India on March 13, 2013. Kumar said, one day in 2008 he spotted children playing in the dirt as he walked to the train station and asked their parents why they weren’t in school. They complained the school was too far and their children would have to cross a dangerous highway to get there. If he was concerned about their education, he should teach them, they said.

Mamta, center, and Sachin, left, watch as Deepak does his homework inside their family’s shack in New Delhi, India on April 4, 2013.

Rajesh Kumar, the founder of a free school for slum children, second from left, erects an awning for a makeshift toilet at a free school for impoverished children run under a mass transit bridge in New Delhi, India on April 5, 2013. <AP Photo/Altaf Qadri>