Chital High School

Chital High School has been standing here in Amreli for a very long time. If you walk down the main road in Chital, you can’t really miss the building where so many local kids have spent their teenage years. It’s a place where the bell rings loudly enough for the whole street to hear, signaling the start and end of another school day. Most of our students come from the surrounding villages, some walking quite a distance or taking the bus every morning. The classrooms are basic, with open windows to let the breeze in since it gets quite hot in this part of Gujarat. We don't have a lot of high-tech equipment, but we have enough books and a few old computers that the students share. The staff room is usually a mess of papers and tea cups, especially during exam season when everyone is busy grading papers. We know most of the parents by name because we see them at the market or during the local festivals. It’s a community thing, really. When the rains are good, the spirit in the school is better because most families here depend on the farms. We just try to get the students through their board exams so they can find work or go to college in the bigger cities. It’s hard work for them and for us, but it’s what we do here day in and day out.