Sarvajanik Madhyamik Shala

Down in Rabda, which is a small spot in the Valsad district, you will find our school. It’s called Sarvajanik Madhyamik Shala. We mainly deal with the middle school years. The school is right there in the middle of the village area. It’s got that old-fashioned look to it, with the high ceilings and the heavy doors. We’ve got a lot of trees around the perimeter which helps keep the place a bit cooler when the sun is out. Most of the kids walk here from their homes nearby. You can hear them coming from a mile away in the mornings. We have a small playground, though it’s mostly just hard ground and a few stones. The classrooms have big windows to let the air in. Sometimes birds fly in and we have to shoo them out before the lesson starts. It’s a very local kind of place. Most of us who work here have lived in Valsad our whole lives, so we know the families. We don't have any big computer labs or anything like that, just books and chalkboards. It works for us. During the monsoon, the rain hits the roof so loud that we have to talk a bit louder. It's just how it is in this part of Gujarat. We keep the gates open during the day and there's always someone coming or going. It feels more like a big house than a formal office for the staff.