Podar World School

The school sits right on National Highway No 8 here in Ankleshwar. You can hear the trucks passing by sometimes if the windows are open, but inside the gates, it’s mostly just the sound of kids talking or teachers giving lessons. We’ve been here a while now. The building gets a bit dusty because of the highway traffic, so there is always someone sweeping the hallways or wiping down the desks in the morning. It’s a big space. The kids come from all over the town and even some nearby villages. They arrive in the yellow buses and scramble out with their heavy bags. Our staff room is usually a mess of notebooks and half-finished cups of tea. Sometimes the power goes out and we just open the doors to let a breeze in. It isn't a fancy place with statues, but it works for what we need. The playground gets pretty hot in the afternoons, especially in the summer months when the sun is right overhead. Most of the parents work in the industries around here, so they drop their kids off early. We see the same faces every day, from the security guard at the main gate to the lady who helps with the lunch boxes. It's just a regular school where things happen as they should. Sometimes a stray dog wanders into the yard and we have to shoo it out before the primary kids get scared. That's just life at Podar World School on the highway.