Gateway 080909 for Viraf.pmd - Rotary Club of Bombay

Teach for India hopes to change India by ending inequitiesMs Shaheen Mistry, the founderCEO of the Teach for Indiaorganisation, made an interesting presentationat the last meeting whenshe briefly explained the concept behindher “movement” and dwelt atlength on its aim of creating leaderswho would help end social inequitiesand thus change the country.She said that Teach for India was anationwide movement of outstandinggraduates and young professionalswho took up teaching in underresourcedschools for two years andwent on to become leaders and lifelongadvocates for equity in education.Once chosen, the youth weretrained in innovative teaching methodsand designated “Fellows”. Afterthey were “placed”, their performancewas monitored and the impactthey were making measured.Ms Mistri started her talk ratherrhetorically, by asking the audiencesome questions which, she said, sheposed at college campuses.“Are you ready for a challenge?”“Do you believe that India needs adifferent kind of leader and not oneleader or ten, but thousands of leaderswho can change every single issuethat the country is grappling with?”“Do you believe that we have theability to create those leaders?” “Doyou believe that the disparity in thiscountry is unsustainable and that itaffects every single one of us hereand that we have the capacity tochange that?”The Teach for India movementbelieved that the world was the wayit was not because of magic or fluke,but because of the efforts of severalgenerations of people who had madea difference. However, the presentglobal scenario was depressing, withinnumerable problems in every aspectof life.At the same time, there was hopein the fact that “if we really are responsiblefor what we are, then wealso have the ability to shape our future;therefore, the actions that wetake now and in the future are goingto shape the world”.Ms Mistri said the Teach for Indiamovement believed that the future ofIndia would be shaped in her classrooms– and that this would be doneby the youth of today, by the best,the brightest and the most committedamong them.In a manner of speaking, the futurewould be shaped by these youthwho would take the lead and thusgive the lead. Although they had theopportunity to do what they wanted,they were prepared to give up theirjobs and work full-time for 16 hoursa day for two years, teaching underprivilegedchildren in under-resourcedclassrooms.Ms Mistry, who has been workingactively on Teach for India since2007, is also the founder of AkanshaFoundation, a non-profit organisationwhich works in the field of educationfor less-privileged children. Akanshahas grown from 15 children in onecentre to 3,500 across Bombay andPune in 19 years.She proceeded to recite a poemthat she had composed to describethe Teach for India programme. Theverse ended with the line, It startswith me. And this was the messagethat was conveyed to the youth whiledescribing the task they would haveto undertake in order to join the movementand in order to become leaders.One year ago, Teach for India approachedthose who had graduatedfrom the IITs and IIMs, and thosewho had found positions in placeslike Citibank, E&Y and J.P. Morgan.Ms Mistri admitted that she wasnervous. But to her shock and surprise,over 2,000 people applied.Some of them were willing to relocateback from New York City toIndia and become Third Standardteachers in a little private school in atin shed in Malad. They were readyto teach 50 students who were farbelow the grades they studied in.The applicants were put througha rigorous selection process and finally87 were chosen. These youthwere put though boot-camp training;they worked 18 hours a day for fiveweeks, learning what it meant to bean excellent teacher.Once they got down to work, mostof them gave out their ’phone numbersso that the students could callthem even at 11 o’clock at night asthere was no one else to help themwith their homework.“When they see how they aretransforming those kids’ lives… sothat one day all those kids will havethe ability to sit where you are sittingtoday… when they see that, theydon’t think of giving just a little bit,they want to put those kids on aneven playing field – and that giveshope for the country.“It’s not just about wanting to dogood, we told them. It’s about changinglives. It’s about having the responsibilityto turn around the life of achild who will never have the opportunitythat you have the power togive them.“We call Teach for India a movementbecause we believe that if weare to change the crazy statistics inour country (only 10% graduate fromhigh school, 90% do not get there,and that 40% of the time there isn’t ateacher in classrooms), and tomaximise our nation’s potential, weneed the help of every one of you,”Ms Mistri added.Speaking after her was Mr. RahulGupta, one of the “Fellows” of theTeach for India movement, who hadjust graduated in Economics fromDelhi University.Mr. Gupta said that as a studentof Kirorimal College he had heardabout the economic growth story, butwhat struck him was the fact that inthe year that GDP grew by 9%, Indiahad slipped three places on theHuman Development Index – fromthe 126th spot to the 129th spot.This showed that there was no positivecorrelation between economicgrowth and development in India. Butrather than turn cynical or critical,many like him had decided to take theplunge and do something to changethe system. His brief experience oftwo and a half months had shown himthat it was possible to improve things.Further, it had also reinforced theidea that education would be the mosteffective tool to end social inequity,especially educational, that was rampantthroughout the country.Not just Govandi, where he wasthe class teacher for the Third Standardat the Hashu Advani MemorialSchool, inequity existed even in poshareas like Worli and its slums.Mr. Gupta warned that educationalinequity could pose a grave threat toand jeopardise the basic essence of thePreamble (to the Constitution).“When you are there, at the spot,you feel ashamed and disappointed,but more than anything else, you feelthe pain. You feel that it is your responsibilityand you just cannot shyaway from it.(Continued on Page 5)The ‘Teach for India’ movement believes that the future of India will beshaped in her classrooms – and that this would be done by the youth oftoday, by the best, the brightest and the most committed among them, saysMs Shaheen Mistri at the last meetingPage 4, THE GATEWAY, 8th September, 2009And this is one of the leaders that Ms Mistri talked about. The youngMr. Rahul Gupta, who has just graduated in economics from DelhiUniversity, is now a Third Standard teacher at a little school in Govandiand is extremely happy with what he is doing