Gnan Vikas Vidyaniketan

Jawahar Nagar in Sriharipuram is a pretty busy place, especially with all the people moving around for work near the port area in Visakhapatnam. Gnan Vikas Vidyaniketan is tucked right into this neighborhood. If you come by in the morning, you will see a lot of kids walking through the lanes to get to the main gate. The air is often a bit salty because we are not too far from the coast, and the humidity can get to you during the afternoons. Our building is a simple one, with several floors that have seen a lot of students come and go over the years. We don't have those fancy glass walls you see in the new offices downtown. Instead, we have heavy wooden doors and windows that stay open to catch whatever breeze we can get. The staffroom is usually a mess of papers and notebooks, especially around exam time when everyone is trying to get the grading finished. It is just a regular school where we focus on the daily lessons. Most of our families live right here in Sriharipuram, so there is a real sense of being part of the local community. You might hear the distant sound of a ship’s horn or the traffic from the main road while you are sitting in a classroom. We just keep our heads down and do the work that needs doing, day in and day out, without making much of a fuss.