Why should I join Teach For India?

Teach For India offers you the chance to make a real difference in tackling one of India’s most pressing challenges – educational inequity. By presenting you with one of the most difficult challenges of your life, the Fellowship helps you develop leadership skills that will make you a high-demand candidate for any career. You will leave the Fellowship literally ready for anything – and with the experience to advocate for a future in which all children have access to an excellent education.

What does the Teach For India Fellowship entail?

The Teach For India Fellowship is a two-year paid assignment during which Fellows are placed as full-time teachers in low-income schools. Throughout the Fellowship, Teach For India Fellows help close the achievement gap by leading their students to significant academic gains. In the second year of their fellowship, Fellows implement a school-wide project to address one major obstacle to learning in their community.

Why does the Fellowship last two years? Can I teach for just one year if I choose?

All Fellows must commit to teach full-time for two years in low-income schools. The two-year commitment is necessary to make the impact we wish to have on student achievement. In the first year, Fellows will refine their teaching skills and will start to establish respect and trust among various stakeholders within the school community. This work will allow Fellows to achieve significant academic gains for students and to implement their community/school project in the second year. Furthermore, Teach For India is looking for leaders who are willing to commit to long-term change and who have the perseverance to work hard in challenging situations. In this context, the two-year commitment is but a small step towards long-term reform.

How does Teach For India’s approach to teaching differ from traditional approaches?

Teach For India’s “Teaching As Leadership” (TAL) model is based on the belief that excellent teachers employ the same skills as excellent leaders in any field. The TAL model requires teachers to plan purposefully, execute effectively, work relentlessly and reflect continuously in order to push students to significant academic gains. Through the TAL model, Fellows become extraordinary leader who can help their students make significant academic gains in the short run and advocate for systemic educational reform in the long run.

Which standard will I be teaching and what will be the medium of instruction?

Teach For India Fellows are placed in 2nd, 3rd, 4th or 5th standard classrooms where they teach all major subjects — including mathematics, reading, history and science — with the exception of languages. English is the medium of instruction in all Teach For India schools and Fellows are not expected to know their students’ mother tongue.

Where will I be teaching?

In 2010, Teach For India Fellows will be placed in Mumbai, Pune and possibly one other city. All Fellows will be required to reside in either of these cities between June 2010 and April 2012. If you are unable to do so, please note that we will expand into different cities in the upcoming years, and hope to be in eight cities and their surrounding rural areas within five years.

Will I be trained adequately before I start teaching?

Teach For India will work relentlessly to ensure that all Fellows have the knowledge and skills necessary to lead their students towards achievement. Teach For India ’s five-week Institute in May and June of 2010 helps Fellows understand curriculum, create long-term and lesson plans, present content to students in a clear and engaging way, facilitate student practice and assess student progress, among other keys to teaching success. Additionally, each Fellow will have a mentor whose primary responsibility is to guide Fellows to become effective teachers and leaders.

How much will I be paid during the Fellowship?

Teach For India Fellows will be paid a stipend of Rs. 15000 per month and will be given a housing allowance along with an allowance for school supplies.

How will the Teach For India experience help me grow professionally?

Teach For India strongly believes that excellent teachers employ the same skills as excellent leaders in any field, and that spending two years in the classroom will help Fellows develop leadership skills, such as organization, communication and resourcefulness, that are valuable in any sector. Teach For India will select Fellows who have demonstrated excellence in the past and will work with them throughout the two-year Fellowship to ensure that they take advantage of the experience to become extraordinary future leaders.

What options will be open to me after the Fellowship?

As the experience of Teach For America alumni shows, Teach For India alumni will be in high demand in any sector because they have the experience of overcoming immense challenges and have developed widely applicable leadership skills. Alumni may choose to remain in the education sector as teachers, principals, or NGO leaders, enroll in post-graduate schools, work in the corporate sector or pursue literally any path they wish.

Will Teach For India help me find education and employment opportunities after the Fellowship?

Teach For India alumni staff maintains relationships with top schools, universities, NGOs, and corporates throughout the country, and helps Fellows connect with these opportunities after the Fellowship. Teach For India has already established close ties with the Indian School of Business, Thermax Group and McKinsey & Company, among many others.

Why are there three deadlines to apply to Teach For India?  Can I apply more than once in the year?

Teach For India offers three deadlines to make it as easy as possible for applicants with varying schedules and needs to apply.  For example, college students often apply as soon as possible, whereas young professionals sometimes prefer to wait until later in their work year before deciding to apply.  Our process of rolling selection allows all applicants to hear their results within 6-8 weeks after they apply.  Applicants are only allowed to apply for one deadline per yearly cycle.

If I can’t apply to the Fellowship in 2010, can I apply at a later date?

Teach For India will accept applications for the Fellowship every year. In the first year, we will place Fellows in Mumbai and Pune. In the next five years, we will expand to eight metropolitan cities and their surrounding rural districts and will place increasing numbers of Fellows in low-income schools in these areas.

Can I apply to Teach For India if I do not know my students' mother tongue?

Yes. Fluency in English is the only language requirement for 2010 Teach For India Fellows.
In 2010, Teach For India Fellows have been placed in English-medium municipal and low-income private schools. While conversational skills in the regional language will be useful when interacting with your students' community outside of the classroom, it will not be necessary to be a successful teacher in an English-medium school.

Is the Teach For India Fellowship a full-time job opportunity or a part-time volunteer program?

Teach For India is a nationwide movement that aims to place Fellows in low-income schools to teach full-time for two years. Fellows will be full-time staff members of the schools in which they are placed and will work stipulated school hours, six days a week. In most placement schools, Fellows will be working with students well below their grade level due to the poor quality of education received in the past. As a result, we foresee that Fellows will be required to work after school hours and on weekends to raise student achievement to the appropriate grade level.

Can I pursue a post-graduate degree or another job while teaching with Teach For India?

Teach For India Fellows teach full-time, usually starting from 7:30 am and working until 3 pm.  They spend much of their evenings and weekends grading papers, lesson planning and working with parents and Teach For India staff. Furthermore, once Fellows have joined the Teach For India movement, they become fully invested in our mission of educational equity and want to give all of their time and more to their students and communities.  For this reason, we encourage potential Fellows to view their commitment to Teach For India as a full-time job that will not allow time for other pursuits.

Other questions?
e-mail your query to apply@teachforindia.org