Jowai Public School

Up here in the Jaintia Hills, Jowai Public School sits in a very quiet and green spot. We are often surrounded by clouds and mist, especially during the monsoon months. The school building is an old wooden and stone structure that has been here for a long time. It has some leaks when the rain gets really heavy, and the floors creak when the children run down the halls. We teach the local kids from Jowai and the small villages tucked away in the hills. It is a very simple place. We have wooden benches and chalkboards, and not much else in terms of modern gadgets. In the winter, it gets quite cold, so the children come wrapped in thick woollen sweaters and scarves. We start the day with a small assembly in the courtyard. You can hear the singing echo off the hillsides. We focus on the basic subjects, making sure every child learns to read and write well. The teachers are mostly local people who have lived here their whole lives. We do not have a big playground, just a flat patch of grass where the kids play soccer. It is a peaceful life up here. We do not have a lot of money for big improvements, so we just fix what we can and keep the school going year after year. It is a place where every face is familiar and every family has a long history with us here.