SOS Children’s Villages India has launched its second Mobile Digital Learning Centre in the capital, in partnership with Informa Exhibitions India Pvt Ltd, part of Informa Markets in India, as part of efforts to expand digital literacy in underserved neighbourhoods.

Children from a vulnerable community in North-West Delhi boarded the bus, fitted with desktops and a projector screen, at the inauguration of the new Mobile Digital Learning Centre.

The initiative currently operates in three cities — Delhi, Pune and Raipur — reaching more than 800 beneficiaries, including 152 children. With the new centre, Delhi alone is targeting over 800 additional beneficiaries in the coming year.

The Mobile Digital Learning Centre programme provides free digital skills training, job-readiness support and confidence-building for youth and women from marginalised communities.

“Digital inclusion is a necessity for education, employability, and social mobility,” said Sumanta Kar, CEO of SOS Children’s Villages India.

“Through our Mobile Digital Learning Centres, we are taking technology directly to their neighbourhoods, ensuring that learning is not limited by geography or economic circumstances.”

Yogesh Mudras, Managing Director of Informa Markets in India, said the company’s continued partnership with SOS Children’s Villages India was helping expand access to digital learning and future-ready skills for children from vulnerable communities.

North-West Delhi was selected for the second Mobile Digital Learning Centre as the area is home to a large share of the capital’s estimated 60,000 street children, spread across roughly three lakh slum households in 675 clusters.

Officials said 45% of government school students in the area lack access to smartphones or stable internet, while 77% of youth in the area had no prior exposure to digital literacy.

The centre offers training across five areas: digital literacy, cyber safety, financial literacy, life skills and certified assessments. In its first year, the programme helped five beneficiaries secure job placements, enabled eight children to re-enrol in school, and facilitated 28 scholarship links and 32 links to higher studies.

The Mobile Digital Learning Centre initiative is part of a broader network run by SOS Children’s Villages India across seven states and eight cities, encompassing mobile units, standalone vocational training centres for ages 18-27, and after-school centres for ages 14-17. More than 2,610 young people participate in the programme annually.