Kaneez Zahara Girls High School

We are located over in Fatooha, near the Hanumanganj area of Allahabad. It is a girls' high school, so we try to keep the atmosphere quiet and focused. The walk from the main road takes about ten minutes and you pass a lot of local shops. We keep the main gate closed most of the day for safety. Our building is a simple concrete structure with a courtyard in the middle. This is where we hold the morning assembly and where the girls sit to eat their lunch from their steel tiffins. We don't have air conditioning, so we rely on the big windows and the shade from a few trees we have in the yard. In the summer, it can be quite a struggle with the heat. We still use paper registers for everything and the chalk dust from the blackboards seems to get on every surface in the office. Our teachers have been with us for a long time and they know the local families well. We don't have a lot of money for decorations, so the walls are mostly plain except for a few maps. Sometimes the power goes out and we just continue the lessons in the natural light. We don't have a website or any fancy advertisements. Most people hear about us from their neighbors in Fatuha. It is a very basic, local school where we just aim to help the girls finish their studies and pass their exams.