For more than three decades, Ankur has been working in the field of experimental pedagogy, with children, young people, and communities in marginalised neighborhoods of Delhi. Ankur seeks to empower the marginalised, through education, to reflect on their life experiences and contexts, and strive for a life of dignity.

Ankur sees people who live on the margins in terms of their potentials, and engages with them as co-travelers and collaborators. Together with them, Ankur builds dynamic spaces for companionable learning. It facilitates diverse practices for generating and sharing of knowledge, questioning accepted practices and wisdom. Over time, Ankur has witnessed the emergence of new narratives and perspectives that hitherto would have been lost.

Ankur currently works in five workers’ settlements namely LNJP Coloy, Khichripur, Sunder Nagri, Dakshin Puri, Savda Ghevra,  through programs such as the learning collective, club, library, young women’s collective, mohalla media lab, community archives and mehfils. It builds on the intellectual and social life of the locality. It supports people as they navigate the changes in urban landscape.

Ankur strives to maintain continuums between its work and other initiatives in the educational and social arena, by sharing ideas, concepts and pedagogical strategies emerging from its practice and learning from others. It conducts capacity building workshops in areas of child rights, education, gender, peace and conflict resolution. Ankur collaborates with government schools, educational bodies and institutions of higher education through class-room intervention, curriculum design, resource support, material development, teacher training and policy deliberations. Ankur participates in networks for the rights of children, women and the marginalized.