Teach For India Fellows

The Teach For India Fellowship is probably the most challenging and transformational experience of a Fellow's life. As teachers in classrooms, Fellows have multiple opportunities to confront and tackle challenges, motivate diverse stakeholders to work hard toward a shared vision, create and adjust plans to move further towards their goals and gain the confidence they need to succeed.

Role of Teach For India Fellows

Every Teach For India Fellow has two main responsibilities, through which he/she learns leadership skills in a hands-on, results-driven environment.

• Classroom Instructional Leadership
  Fellows are full-time teachers in English-medium government or low-income private schools for two consecutive academic years.
  
  Fellows are expected to lead students in their classrooms toward academic achievement that defies traditional expectations. Fellows foster this achievement by getting to know their students in and out of the classroom; creating instructional plans to match the whole class' and individual student's needs; delivering instruction in an engaging manner; working with other teachers, administrators and community members to build skills and obtain resources for the classroom; and administering and analyzing assessments to ensure that students are progressing towards their academic goals.

• School Transformation/Leadership Project
  In addition to teaching, Fellows implement a transformational project in the school and/or students' community.
  
  Fellows choose to tackle one primary challenge to students' achievement (after discussions with school communities and leaders) and create innovative and sustainable solutions to this problem. To carry out this project effectively, Fellows research and plan the project; amass resources necessary to implement the project; invest students, families, teachers, administrators and/or community members to help implement the project; and troubleshoot the project in its execution phase.
  
  By designing, implementing and managing a small-scale, sustainable project within the school community, Fellows build upon their leadership and project management skills. These leadership and management skills are transferable and Fellows can utilize the lessons learned through this project in other work they do after the duration of the Fellowship. Through this project, Fellows also develop a deep understanding of the many barriers to achievement and the complex problems associated with achieving equity in education. This experience shapes and guides the methods through which Fellows tackle educational inequity in the country, both in the short term and long term.

Profile of Teach For India Fellows, Batch of 2009

Below is an indicative profile of our Fellows. We are continuing to build momentum at top colleges and corporations across India and are certain that our next batch of Fellows will add to the diversity at Teach For India.

Age range: 20 to 35 years

Background:

Educational Institutions that our Fellows attended:

• Amity University

• BITS Pilani

• Fergusson College, Pune

• Georgetown University, USA

• Hindu College, Delhi

• IIT Bombay

• IIT Delhi

• KJ Somaiya Institute of Management, Mumbai

• Mudra Institute of Communications, Ahmedabad

• Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies

• Nelson Mandela Center for Peace and Confict Resolution, Jamia Millia Islamia

• New York University

• Sophia's College, Mumbai

• Sreeram College of Commerce

• St. Xavier's College, Mumbai

• St. Stephen's College, Delhi

• Symbiosis Centre for Management and Human Resource Development (SCMHRD)

• Symbiosis Institute of Business Management, Pune

• University Department of Applied Psychology, University of Mumbai

• University of Warwick

Companies our Fellows have worked with:

• Accenture

• Aditya Birla Group- Idea Cellular

• Ashoka Foundation

• Axis Bank

• Bharat Petroleum

• Britannia Industries

• CII

• Citibank

• Ernst & Young

• Godrej Indsutries

• Hewlett Packard

• Hindustan Unilever

• ICICI

• JP Morgan Chase

• JSW Foundation

• Larsen and Toubro

• Mahindra and Mahindra

• Mastek Ltd.

• Religare Finvest Ltd.

• Tata Consultancy Services

• Tata Power

• Thermax

Read what our Fellows have to say about the Teach For India movement:

"Having received the best education myself, I understood the power of knowledge and the impact it can have on the society. From this stemmed the belief in the potential of these young untapped minds, which once equipped with knowledge can transform the fate of our nation."

- Saurabh Taneja, Marketiks-WNS Group Company, IIT Delhi

"My experience at school reinforced my belief that each child can reach fantastic heights in his or her own unique way - its just about putting in the effort to nurture the intrinsic potential."

- Sana Gabula, GE Energy Services

"A child cannot be manipulative nor can he/she show feelings that he/she doesn't have. It is this love and affection, and the smiles on their faces that actually keep me going as a teacher. It is their innocence and purity as children that motivates me and makes me more responsible as their teacher. They are the ones who push me to do better than what I think I can do. "

- Aparna Achutan, St. Xaviers College, Mumbai

"There are 2 kinds of youth in India - one who choose to go and yell on TV and the others, like me, who join Teach For India. It just seemed like the best option for me after my management studies to use my skills to the fullest. I knew I couldn't have found a bigger crisis management project than this one. No obstacle was big enough as compared to my determination to join TFI - some family and close friends did voice their genuine concern that got sorted the minute they understood the entire model and my dedication to the cause. My biggest challenge - to speak in Hindi, to keep up the 'sense of possibility', to invest my students continuously in the big goal and to make them realize that Bhaiyya is here for you to make a difference in your life - its not the same as any other class teacher."

- Anirrban Mukherjii, St. Xaviers College, Mumbai

"Every single hurdle has been an amazing feat for me to achieve and I have grown in ways unimaginable. Every moment of realization has felt like attaining enlightenment. I have never known such boundless happiness and I feel honoured to be surrounded by such hope, positivity and love."

- Anasuya Menon, St. Xaviers College, Mumbai

"From mute screams,

From strangled dreams,

From stabs unknown,

I hope I have grown.

From castles in the sky,

From aspirations gone by,

From moments wasted and tears collected,

I think I have grown.

From half-held hands,

From buried in the sand,

I believe I have grown.

From potential hung,

From songs not sung,

From talents loaned to skills finally honed,

I see I have grown.

From blank faces to lit up eyes,

From sky wishes to jumping high-fives,

From silent class to chaotic bunch,

From quiet morn to rowdy lunch,

From rowdy lunch to pleasant bunch,

From a noisy market to an engaging show,

I have indeed seen them grow.

And from a vagabond lost in the night,

From a bird frozen in mid-flight,

From a horizon floating out of sight,

From a torch searching for some light,

I thank you,

For I know I have finally grown."

- Gaurav Singh, Accenture

Read what our CEO has to say about the Fellows:

"These Fellows came, courageously

These Fellows learn, relentlessly

And through the challenge of these days

They've learned to try a thousand ways

To take a breath and set a goal

So big it stirs your very soul

And then, in this, each child invest

I can. I will. This is our test.

To backwards plan from end of year

To each objective now and here

To unpack standards, and to map

Each book and topic, find the gaps

They've learned to chant, they've learned to sing

That art can teach you anything

They've balanced both their head and heart

They've learned to stop, reflect, re-start

They've learned non-stop because they see

Our mission's deepest urgency

Starts not with them, or he, or she

The strange thing is

This starts with me

Not he, or she

But me, yes me

We, yes we

All of us

Must learn to lead

To understand what India needs

For all of us

Are in this fight

To make things for each child more right

To make things for each child more right"

- Shaheen Mistri, CEO, Teach For India