India, Dec. 19 -- It is not uncommon to find a group of schoolkids, chaperoned by their parents, waiting to cross the railway tracks between Mankhurd and Govandi at 6:45 am on school days. Clutching their school bags, they watch the trains go by for at least 15 minutes before they can walk across the tracks and the long stretch of the busy Eastern Express Highway to reach the Maharashtra Nagar BMC school.

This, however, was not their routine till 2021 when the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) decided to demolish the "dilapidated" school in Mankhurd Gaon, which had a strength of 400 students who were taught in Marathi and Urdu mediums.

"The BMC's decision has greatly affected students' lives. They now have to walk for 20 to 25 mi...