Jaya Matha Upper Primary School

This school sits out on the Kattakkada Route in a place called Mannamkonam. We are part of the Dalmugam area here in Thiruvananthapuram. It is a bit of a drive from the main city center, so it feels a little more peaceful out here than in the town. The school building is an older one, with the kind of architecture you see a lot in this part of Kerala. We have the upper primary classes here, so the kids are a bit older and a bit louder. Every morning, you can see them walking down the road in their uniforms. We don't have a lot of high-tech gadgets or anything fancy. We mostly rely on the blackboards and the textbooks. The staff room is usually a bit messy with piles of papers and half-empty tea cups on the tables. We have a small playground area where the grass gets a bit long during the monsoon, and we have to remind the kids to be careful of the mud. It’s a very straightforward place. We don’t spend time on fancy speeches or big events unless it’s a major holiday. Mostly, it’s just about getting the lessons finished before the final bell rings in the afternoon. People around Mannamkonam know us as the local school where their nephews and nieces go. We’ve been part of the landscape for years, just quietly doing the work that needs to be done for the families nearby. It’s just how things are.