‘Chalk n Duster’is an emotional journey of two teachers Vidya (Shabana Azmi) and Jyoti (Juhi Chawla), serving at a Mumbai–based high school. Their passion and love for teaching bonds them in a special relationship with their students. Their gratification is good grades and moral values they strive to impart to students.

However, in an evil turn of events, a wicked lady, Kamini Gupta (Divya Dutta) gets appointed as the principal, thus changing the fate of the administration. Vidya is one of the senior staff members at this fair to a middling educational institution, which has thus far functioned smoothly. Everything changes with the appointment of a new principal. The teachers face unpleasant surprises when the popular and considerate Indu (Zarina Wahab) is replaced by the ambitious and cut-throat Kamini (Divya Dutta), who aspires to upscale her middle-class school. Teacher’s chairs are removed from the classrooms, the tea is no longer free and subjects are juggled so that, for example, the overweight Hindi teacher is now assigned physical training.

All this gets too much for the good-hearted Vidya, who suffers a heart attack after a sudden and unfair dismissal. In solidarity, her friend and colleague Jyoti (Juhi Chawla) decides to take on Kamini and the misdirected board of trustees, led by Anmol (Arya Babbar). This entails using a TV channel as a platform for reminding viewers that teachers need support, recognition and more pay.

The drama ends with a recovered Vidya and Jyoti taking on a Who Wants to Be A Millionaire style quiz to win Rs.5 crore. The trade-off is that if they lose, they will have to accept their termination. In the quiz battle, the Vidya and Jyoti use their talent and win the quiz. Unwillingly, the Trustee Anmol signs the bank cheque of 5 crore rupees and the principal Kamini apologizes to Vidya and Jyoti publicly over the TV Show. At the end, Vidya reveals that she will be handing over the money to former principal Indu to build a school where no teacher will be discriminated and students will have a good education in less cost! The movie has a good message to give regarding education.