Every day after school I'm surrounded by students who are also on their way home. There are hundreds of kids walking the streets, the older kids sometimes grabbing a snack at a stall before taking off on their scooties while the younger kids pile into an auto rickshaw to get home. I asked two sisters, Himanshi and Manvi, to tell me about their school lives.
Himanshi is 14 and Manvi is 12. They both go to a private school called Shri Guru Ram Rai Public School. In India, schools that are called “public” are what we refer to as private schools in the U.S. Many kids attend private schools, which can be very expensive because their parents want them to receive a better education than at a government-run school. Here, every student wears a uniform. I noticed Manvi standing with her friend after school and asked her why she was wearing a badge labeled “monitor” with her uniform. Manvi told me that every class has a student monitor, which is a year-long role. Manvi is in charge of making sure the other students pay attention in class. Then I asked her and her friend about what they’ve been learning at school, and they told me they take English, maths and sciences. They are also learning about ancient Indian history.
