Dashmesh Public School

Being right on Garhshankar Road means Dashmesh Public School is always in the middle of everything. It’s No 1 on the street, so it’s easy to find, even if the traffic in Una gets a bit much sometimes. You can hear the trucks and cars zooming by while the kids are inside doing their math. It gets quite dusty here in the summer, and we’re constantly wiping down the desks. The school started small and just sort of stayed that way, which I think is fine. It’s a local place for local people. Parents stop their scooters right at the gate to drop off lunchboxes they forgot. My office is near the front, so I see it all. We have a small patch of ground where the kids play, and it gets pretty noisy during recess. Some of the teachers have been with us since they were young, and now they’re teaching the children of their first students. That’s the thing about Una-Himachal Pradesh, people tend to stick around. We don't have any shiny brochures or a big website. Most people find out about us just by walking past or talking to their cousins. It’s a bit chaotic at times, especially during the monsoon when the road gets messy, but we manage. We just focus on getting through the syllabus and making sure the kids are safe until their parents pick them up.