‘Shed’, ‘shed makkalu’, and differentiated schooling: narratives from an Indian city

ABSTRACT ‘Shed makkalu’ (literally translated as ‘shed children’) is a phrase frequently used by NGO functionaries to identify children (from temporarily migrating families) living in ‘shed’ houses (made of either tarpaulin or tin sheets) situated in the squatter settlements of the Indian city of Bangalore. Temporary migrants in India belong to marginalised socio-economic strata of society and face multiple inequalities in both source and destination areas. This article focusses on the socio-spatial marginalisation of temporary migrant children in the city as an important identity dimension through which migrant children and their education were engaged with in the city. It explores the categories of ‘shed’ and ‘shed makkalu’ as vantage points to understand the socio-spatial marginalisation of migrant children in the city and how children themselves engage with their marginal locales in the city and its schools. This article draws on existing critiques around the theoretical canons of multiple childhood(s) and children’s agency to highlight that while migrant children actively engage with uncertain and erratic contexts of mobility and their marginal locations in the city, the structural conditions of development and education that shape their experiences of schooling should not be overlooked.