Education is the key to a better future, and many-a-times the only weapon which could be used to bring pivotal changes in the society. There is no doubt about the fact that it’s necessary for every child to get the right education and a mentor who understands the need to transform the education system through enhanced teaching methods. The Teach for India Fellowship provides an opportunity to such capable minds with shining creativity and unwavering commitment to be permanent teachers and help the underprivileged children studying in under-resourced schools from across the country.
Introduction : It is a two year long programme where the selected individuals are required to serve in government or low-income private schools. They teach English, Mathematics, Science and Social Students, in English, across Grades 1 to 10. Currently, it is working actively across the country in Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Pune.
What is the vision of the Teach for India Fellowship ?
Belief: The Teach for India Fellowship programme, fuels on the belief that to understand the grass root reality, it is necessary for the fellows to be actually exposed in the environment where they are able to combine their skills and techniques to help in the holistic development of the children.
Aim : It works with the utmost dedication to empower the underprivileged children in a way that the opportunity to choose a different lifestyle through the right education becomes an available option to them rather than a far-fetched dream. The team weighs their impact by determining the levels of changes they are able to bring in the life of the students in terms of academic growth, values and mind-set, exposure and access.
Companions: The fellows collaborate with all the important entities-parents, principals and the students to gain knowledge related to various fields and improve their problem solving skills. The CEO Shaheen Mistri holds the opinion that the children need to be exposed to various projects and experiences which would serve as a real life example for them which would in turn help in the enhancement of their confidence as well as the understanding of the world outside.
Some initiatives taken by the fellows and the core team together-
The team actively works outside the classroom as well for the general upliftment of the society. The members believe that every individual has certain responsibility towards the community which he/she must fulfill. The initiatives introduced by the members did give a boost to the opportunities available for the youth and is definitely helping them evolve.
1)TFIx – It is a yearlong programme which provides the young entrepreneurs the opportunity to develop two year intensive teaching fellowships, which would empower the local capable individuals to take up leadership positions in the educational platforms.
2) InnovatED– It is a nine month duration national platform designed especially for incubating entrepreneurs who have the potential to improve the education system through introducing organisations or startups based on their project ideas.
3) Firki– It is a free online platform for teachers designed to support them and help them understand and discover their strengths. It assists them in building new skills and techniques to enhance the classroom experience. Through various courses and workshops, it strives to create better teachers in the world which in turn would help the students in their academics too.
4)Kids Education Revolution- It is a collective initiative of schools and various organisations which believe that to transform the current education system, it’s important that the students with the leadership potential and creative minds must be included in the decision making process and their suggestions must be considered in the process and journey towards advanced learning.
How can one become a part of this journey?
It is necessary that the selected fellows thrive on a spirit which aims to fight for educational equity. They must possess certain skills that mark them apart from the crowd. People from all around the world, who are
1) An Indian Citizen or an Overseas Citizen of India from various cities and colleges, and different backgrounds come together to become a part of this diverse project.
2) Graduates with a minimum of a Bachelor’s degree are welcome to apply.
What’s awe striking is that the selectivity rate ranges between only 6-8%, which itself speaks for the high level potential required to get into the fellowship programme.
There are mainly three stages an individual would be going through if applied for the same-
Stage1- The Application Form and Online Test
The application must speak for the candidate and their reasons; why they want to become a part of this programme, and how they think they can contribute to the cause. After completing the application, within 72 hours ,the candidate must take up another 1-hour online test which would basically evaluate their English language skills as well as their ability to judge a given situation correctly. The candidate will be eligible to move to the next step only when he submits both the application and the online test.
Stage2-Telephonic Interview
After the application and AMCAT test has gone through appraisal by the team of the fellowship programme, the candidate will be invited for a 30 minute long telephonic interview if shortlisted. The questions would further help them in evaluating him on the basis of his experiences and on-the spot awareness.
Stage3- Assessment Centre
Here comes the final stage in the selection process where the candidate will be invited to the assessment centre to teach a 5-minute lesson on a certain topic, take part in a group activity and complete a short problem-solving activity. After successfully finishing the mentioned tasks, the final one hour long interview with the community members of the Teach India Fellowship would commence.
What impact did the Teach for India Fellowship made on the students?
- The children affiliated with this fellowship participate in Model United Nations each year as well as various Olympiads and other competitions. They are also vigorously involved in slam poetry events, extra-curricular fests, do slam and also go on residential leadership camps.
- With constant efforts and guidance, the Teach for India students are enhancing knowledge skills in accordance to their levels. This has resulted in a 48% grade level mastery in math at the end of the year which is a lot more than only 20% in the beginning of 2015.
- By maintaining a balance between academics and extracurricular activities, the Teach for India students have successfully made their way to the list of top ten global ‘Designs for Change’ projects which essentially works to help students use design thinking to work for a cause they believe in.
- The ‘Maya- Find Your Track’ is an initiative which encourages children to raise and answer questions related to life so that they understand themselves and the society better. Three of the Teach India Programme Maya students got full scholarships to the United World Colleges in Italy, Armenia and India and another two study at Avsara’s Leadership Academy currently.
How did the lives of fellows change ?
The fellows who go through this two year extensive programme also undergo many positive transformations. They inculcate a wide range of qualities while working like that of critical thinking, decision making, organisational skills and communication amongst the others. It also helps the fellows improve and grow in three major fields that are –
- Commitment to Personal Transformation- which means making the right choices and availing the opportunities which would get them closer to the self they want to become.
- Commitment to Collective Action- the “Be the Change Projects” which involve working on to provide better school management, tasks and activities to empower the community as well as the parents which would help in overall development of the society.
- Commitment to Educational Equity- it involves understanding the loopholes in the education system and ways and making efforts to resolve them so as to achieve educational equity.
Some major take-aways from the fellowship programme-
1) Healthcare facilities are provided to all the staff members with an added benefit to buy health insurance for the family (spouse and children).
2) Since this programme works on a global level and has international networks, the fellow will be able to access various resources, and would be given a plethora of opportunities for thought partnering, and invitations to participate in competitions and conferences across the world.
3) It would help the fellow develop into a better leader with effective ways and solutions to the various issues out there.
By working with the Teach for India team, which works in partnership with the Teach For All Network, both the students as well as the fellows enrolled, get some golden opportunities, experience and resources which may not be otherwise available to them.
The deep involvement of skilled people working at such a large level, for one strong cause is definitely bringing visible changes in the society. We hope that the vision of a better education system of the Teach For All Network does come true and the world indeed becomes a better place for all of us.
