Dhaka, Nov. 12 -- At Dhaka University's buzzing Teacher-Student Centre (TSC), nine-year-old Yasin Ali balances a clutch of jasmine garlands in one hand and a dog-eared primer in the other. Amid hundreds of street children scraping a living across the campus, Yasin is a rare exception: he is currently the only one enrolled in a formal or accredited school.

For almost every other child selling flowers, clearing dining tables, or scrubbing oily plates in dormitory canteens, education is not a pathway to opportunity; it is an hourly trade-off against hunger.

Two student-led initiatives, School of Ghashful and Tori School, have stepped in to bring basic literacy within their reach. Yet, volunteers acknowledge that bridging the gap between op...