Jay Jalaram School

Our school is right by the Godhra Dahod Highway Cross Road in Parvadi. It’s a dusty area because of all the trucks and cars passing by on the highway. You can hear the horns honking all day long while we are inside. The building itself is straightforward, nothing too elaborate. We have a lot of kids from the nearby villages and the surrounding Panchmahal area. It’s a bit of a commute for some of us, but we’re used to it by now. The mornings are usually spent sweeping out the dust that blows in from the road. We have a small staff room where we sit during breaks to have tea and talk about the weather or the news. The classrooms are filled with wooden desks and benches that have seen better days. It’s a functional place where the focus is just on the daily lessons. There’s a small yard where the kids play during the lunch break. Sometimes when the wind picks up, you can really smell the fields nearby. We handle everything from the cleaning to the paperwork ourselves. It’s a simple life here in Parvadi. We don’t have much in the way of fancy equipment, but the roof doesn't leak and the walls are solid. Most days are predictable, which is fine by us. We just try to make sure the kids show up and the teachers have what they need to work. Every day we just follow the same schedule until the buses leave.