With after-school center, trans activist Sumi Das seeks kinder future

Arbina Khatun makes about $3 a day working at a small convenience store with her husband in the West Bengal village of Ghughumari. 

She knows her 6-year-old son, Shyan Mia, could benefit from a private tutor, but at $12 to $25 a month, the family could never afford it. “I do not have any income apart from what we earn from the shop,” she says. “We use that to feed ourselves.”

So instead she sends him to a nearby learning center founded by transgender rights activist Sumi Das and referred to as the Gurukul.

Ms. Das founded the center in 2020 when schools closed during COVID-19 lockdowns. Shyan is one of 24 children from underprivileged families who come to this unique