AP PHOTOS: A school under a highway is a sanctuary for disadvantaged children in India

THANE, India (AP) — It’s early morning at a traffic intersection in Thane, a city on the outskirts of Mumbai, the bustling financial capital of India that's home to more than 20 million people. The roads are already crowded with commuters, while engines and horns fill the air with noise that's amplified by the highway overhead.

About a dozen young children are forming little splashes of color on the gray tarmac as they cross a busy road helped by two men. They are arriving to attend an innovative school operated by the NGO Samarth Bharat Vyaspeeth, using shipping containers under the highway as classrooms.

Children will bathe, change into a uniform, and have their morning meal of tea and porridge before filing into air-conditioned shipping containers for lessons. They learn to read and write in the local Marathi language and English; practicing using computers; and conduct simple experiments in a science lab. In between lessons, they play soccer and traditional sports like kabaddi.

The school is a day-time sanctuary, promising some of the city's poorest children a safe environment and three nutritious meals. In the evening they will return to homes on the fringes of the metropolis, many improvised from scavenged corrugated iron sheets, plywood boards and tarpaulins.

Vaishali Pawar, 10, and her two siblings attend Signal Shala, named after its location near a traffic signal.

“My elder brother has never been to school and is an auto driver. One sister has got married but I want to become an artist,” says Pawar.

Her parents were reluctant to send the children but were talked into it by the school.

Since 2016, the school is preparing children like Vaishali to appear for formal examinations conducted by the state education board. According to its webpage there are 57 students enrolled in the school which strives "to bring such children into the mainstream of society by addressing not only their educational needs but also their health and emotional well-being."

Sonali Gautam Gayakwad, 14, says that If she had not joined the school, she would have been married off by now.

Children form a line as they cross a busy highway to reach the Signal Shala school in Thane near Mumbai, India, April 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

Teacher Shaila Desale says goodbye to her students as they leave the Signal Shala school in a school bus in Thane near Mumbai, India, April 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

Students play kabbadi, a traditional Indian sport, at the Signal Shala school in Thane near Mumbai, India, April 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

Students play kabbadi, a traditional Indian sport, at the Signal Shala school in Thane near Mumbai, India, April 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

Teacher Sunita Patil checks the notebook of 10-year-old Vaishali Pawar, center, at the Signal Shala school in Thane near Mumbai, India, April 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

A student raises her hand during a lesson at the Signal Shala school in Thane near Mumbai, India, April 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

Students eat lunch at the Signal Shala school in Thane near Mumbai, India, April 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

Teacher Shaila Desale, center, walks with her students during a break at the Signal Shala school in Thane near Mumbai, India, April 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

Sonali Goutam Gayakwad, 14, helps a young boy put his uniform on at the Signal Shala school in Thane near Mumbai, India, April 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

Students attend a Marathi language class at the Signal Shala school in Thane near Mumbai, India, April 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

A student studies the Marathi alphabet at the Signal Shala school in Thane near Mumbai, India, April 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

Yash Ganesh Gayakwad, 9, counts on his fingers during a math lesson at the Signal Shala school in Thane near Mumbai, India, April 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

A girl wearing a silver anklet attends class at the Signal Shala school in Thane near Mumbai, India, April 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

Students react during a math lesson at the Signal Shala school in Thane near Mumbai, India, April 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

Students sing the Indian national anthem at the Signal Shala school in Thane near Mumbai, India, April 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

A girl comforts a young boy who fell while playing at the Signal Shala school in Thane near Mumbai, India, April 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

Medals and certificates won by students are displayed on a wall at the Signal Shala school in Thane near Mumbai, India, April 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

Yash Ganesh Gayakwad, 9, combs his hair after a shower at the Signal Shala school in Thane near Mumbai, India, April 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

Students shower at the Signal Shala school in Thane near Mumbai, India, April 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

Children play with a kitten at the Signal Shala school in Thane near Mumbai, India, April 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

Boys cross a busy highway to reach the Signal Shala school in Thane near Mumbai, India, April 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

Unnati Pradeep, 11, talks to her mother outside her home in Thane near Mumbai, India, April 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

Neelam Krishan, 11, studies at her home in Thane near Mumbai, India, April 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

ST. LOUIS (AP) — World champions Ilia Malinin and the ice dance duo of Madison Chock and Evan Bates will anchor one of the strongest U.S. Figure Skating teams in history when they head to Italy for the Milan Cortina Olympics in less than a month.

Malinin, fresh off his fourth straight national title, will be the prohibitive favorite to follow in the footsteps of Nathan Chen by delivering another men's gold medal for the American squad when he steps on the ice at the Milano Ice Skating Arena.

Chock and Bates, who won their record-setting seventh U.S. title Saturday night, also will be among the Olympic favorites, as will world champion Alysa Liu and women's teammate Amber Glenn, fresh off her third consecutive national title.

U.S. Figure Skating announced its full squad of 16 athletes for the Winter Games during a made-for-TV celebration Sunday.

"I'm just so excited for the Olympic spirit, the Olympic environment," Malinin said. “Hopefully go for that Olympic gold.”

Malinin will be joined on the men's side by Andrew Torgashev, the all-or-nothing 24-year-old from Coral Springs, Florida, and Maxim Naumov, the 24-year-old from Simsbury, Connecticut, who fulfilled the hopes of his late parents by making the Olympic team.

Vadim Naumov and Evgenia Shishkova were returning from a talent camp in Kansas when their American Airlines flight collided with a military helicopter and crashed into the icy Potomac River in January 2025. One of the last conversations they had with their son was about what it would take for him to follow in their footsteps by becoming an Olympian.

“We absolutely did it,” Naumov said. “Every day, year after year, we talked about the Olympics. It means so much in our family. It's what I've been thinking about since I was 5 years old, before I even know what to think. I can't put this into words.”

Chock and Bates helped the Americans win team gold at the Beijing Games four years ago, but they finished fourth — one spot out of the medals — in the ice dance competition. They have hardly finished anywhere but first in the years since, winning three consecutive world championships and the gold medal at three straight Grand Prix Finals.

U.S. silver medalists Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik also made the dance team, as did the Canadian-born Christina Carreira, who became eligible for the Olympics in November when her American citizenship came through, and Anthony Ponomarenko.

Liu was picked for her second Olympic team after briefly retiring following the Beijing Games. She had been burned out by years of practice and competing, but stepping away seemed to rejuvenate the 20-year-old from Clovis, California, and she returned to win the first world title by an American since Kimmie Meissner stood atop the podium two decades ago.

Now, the avant-garde Liu will be trying to help the U.S. win its first women's medal since Sasha Cohen in Turin in 2006, and perhaps the first gold medal since Sarah Hughes triumphed four years earlier at the Salt Lake City Games.

Her biggest competition, besides a powerful Japanese contingent, could come from her own teammates: Glenn, a first-time Olympian, has been nearly unbeatable the past two years, while 18-year-old Isabeau Levito is a former world silver medalist.

"This was my goal and my dream and it just feels so special that it came true,” said Levito, whose mother is originally from Milan.

The two pairs spots went to Ellie Kam and Danny O'Shea, the U.S. silver medalists, and the team of Emily Chan and Spencer Howe.

The top American pairs team, two-time reigning U.S. champions Alisa Efimova and Misha Mitrofanov, were hoping that the Finnish-born Efimova would get her citizenship approved in time to compete in Italy. But despite efforts by the Skating Club of Boston, where they train, and the help of their U.S. senators, she did not receive her passport by the selection deadline.

“The importance and magnitude of selecting an Olympic team is one of the most important milestones in an athlete's life,” U.S. Figure Skating CEO Matt Farrell said, "and it has such an impact, and while there are sometimes rules, there is also a human element to this that we really have to take into account as we make decisions and what's best going forward from a selection process.

“Sometimes these aren't easy," Farrell said, “and this is not the fun part.”

The fun is just beginning, though, for the 16 athletes picked for the powerful American team.

AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

Amber Glenn competes during the women's free skating competition at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Alysa Liu skates during the "Making Team USA" performance at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Maxim Naumov skates during the "Making Team USA" performance at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Madison Chock and Evan Bates skate during the "Making the Team" performance at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Gold medalist Ilia Malinin arrives for the metal ceremony after the men's free skate competition at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)