St. Jude English School

Being up here in Pachilakkad, near Kalpetta, means we get a lot of mist and rain throughout the year. The school is tucked away in a quiet spot in Wayanad, away from the main road traffic. It is a bit of a climb to get here for some, but the air is fresh. We started St. Jude English School because the families around here needed a place for their children to learn. The building is simple, mostly concrete with a roof that we have to check every year before the monsoon hits. Inside, it's just your standard classrooms with posters on the walls that the kids made themselves. We have a small playground, but it’s mostly just grass and some space to run around. The teachers often walk to work or take the local bus that stops down the hill. We don't have any high-tech gadgets, just books and the usual school supplies. During the breaks, you can hear the kids shouting and playing from quite a distance. It feels like a big family because everyone knows everyone else’s business. If a student is absent, someone usually knows why without even asking. We have our fair share of broken windows and leaky taps, but we fix them as we go. It’s a hardworking little school where we just try to do our best with what we have every single day.