Sanskar Valley School

If you walk through Bichla Telpa in Chapra, you will find Sanskar Valley School. The address is Chapra 841301. It is a place that feels very much like the rest of the town—busy and practical. The morning starts with the sound of the heavy metal gate being pulled open. There is a lot of activity on the road outside with rickshaws and people going to work. Inside the school, the walls are covered with charts that the kids made themselves, some of them a bit crooked or faded from the sun. We have a small area where students stand for the morning assembly. It’s not a fancy stadium, just a bit of paved ground that gets hot by ten in the morning. The classrooms are filled with wooden desks and chairs that sometimes creak when the older boys sit down. We spend our time checking attendance and making sure the water cooler is filled up for the day. There is no big marketing team here. It is just a few of us trying to keep things running. Sometimes a stray dog wanders into the yard and we have to shoo it out before classes begin. The staff sits in the small room near the entrance to drink tea and talk about the schedule. Sanskar Valley School is just a simple building where people come to do their jobs and students come to learn their lessons.