When outstanding college graduates and young professionals form part of a nationwide movement supported by corporate honchos, they sow the seeds of learning and Teach For India (TFI) .
The 2006 initiative by companies like Tata Consultancy Services, Axis Bank, Britannia Industries, Ernst and Young, Thermax and Godrej aims to end inequality by imparting quality education to children from under resourced schools.
The movement looks to absorb outstanding college graduates and young professionals with a passion and a drive essential for the project, and trains them in innovative teaching methods and overall leadership skills to teach full time for 2 years in schools. To start with, projects are operational in schools of Mumbai and Pune.
“At Teach For India, we look for schools where the fees are under Rs 300 per month. The schools tend to be placed in low-income communities, have relatively small class-rooms, and have difficult working conditions like less light, low ventilation, low teacher-student ratio etc. Our ‘fellows’ work for such setups and adopt revolutionary teaching methods to educate students from such schools.,” Shveta Raina, head Fellowship Recruitment, TFI told Business Standard.
Daniel Lobo from TCS, Wilfred Barboza from Axis Bank and many more such bright minds (fellows) are engaged in making the difference.
Veena Verma, learning and development manger corporate HR, Godrej, is a sponsored fellow by her company. Its been a year for her and she says it has been a year full of personal growth. “In a corporate environment, you are evaluated for your professional skills but here you are a role model for children. They emulate you, they look up to you. I have to be my best every moment. Even after my stint ends I plan to extend my support for the children’s overall growth. I am evaluating options right now.”
After the 2-year module, the fellows who are not at present employed are supported by the organisation to enter the corporate, social, government and education sectors.
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The initiative, funded by corporates and donations from foundations, helps building leadership skills of the ‘fellows’ who Teach For India. The training including an outstanding 5-week residential programme and exposure to global leaders from a variety of sectors.
The organisation also supports fellows who lead initiatives to run projects in the low-income communities where they teach. TFI bears the cost of fellow stipends (Rs 15,000 per month) and day-to-day operations of the schools as well as for teaching aids and supplies needed for the classroom. The schools are run by private entities (such as a trust) or government institutions (such as the Pune Municipal Corporation).
Wilfred, who teaches Mathematics at 2nd grade, said, “I make use of something as simple as marbles when I teach kids substratcion and borrowing. That way they understand so quickly. We are given total freedom in the way in which we would like to teach. You will always find me before and after school hours with children too beacause I take extra sessions for weak students.”
Wilfred's manager Ashish Sengupta, senior vice president, Human Resources, is more than happy to let Wilfred do what he likes. “We have decided to pass on values to the society by sharing our most priced assets — our intellectual capital with TFI and its our great pleasure.”
“Teach For India is committed to the education of under-resourced children and believes that teachers who achieve significant academic gains for their students employ the same tactics as any effective leader, including those in the corporate world by narrowing the educational hiatus in our country. We have deputed two of our employees — Wilfred and Sharukh Taraporewala — for 2 years to be a part of the TFI campaign while retaining them.”
Through this initiative, TFI is trying to solve the educational crisis in India. “By getting the most outstanding young leaders in our nation to teach, and making teaching aspirational, we are changing the mindsets of thousands about entering the education and development sector. By supporting and training these leaders to improve student achievement in their classrooms and in the entire school and community in which they teach, it results in an excellent education for thousands of children.” said Raina.
“By helping these fellows to enter diverse sectors and attain positions of influence post Teach For India, it ensures that the next generation of leaders in India will have significant understanding of the issues facing our country and hence will be much better equipped to solve them.”
Over the next five to eight years, TFI plans to expand to the nation’s eight to ten key metropolitan cities and potentially have about 1000 fellows in the programme each year. ”Our vision is that one day, all children will have an excellent education. The idea is that if 10 or 20 years from now, several major corporate CEOs, leaders in media, education, the government, social and public sector have all done the fellowship, then they will not only be successful in their field but deeply committed to ensuring equity in education.” Shaheen Mistry (CEO) told Business Standard.
“Then we would be successful in our objective. These leaders would together solve so many of the problems leading to inequity in education, which can only be solved if several stake-holders who understand the key problems work together on the solution.”