Teach for India---1

1.       How does Teach For India believe in solving the problem of educational inequity?

 Teach For India has a two-step approach to solving this problem:

•  Short term and immediate intervention: by providing underprivileged children with committed and talented Fellows as teachers, TFI aims to ensure that students achieve grade appropriate learning levels in two years. TFI Fellows also work with the community to bring about change on a deeper level be it through changing the community’s attitude and approach towards education or by solving an actual education related problem in the community. At a systemic level, it creates a culture of giving back through education in a very direct way.

• Long term change: Teach For India hopes to build a movement of leaders that will champion the cause of educational equity in India. Currently, the education sector remains crippled due to massive lack of political will. India currently spends about than 3% of its GDP on education which is less than what even Kenya (7%), Vietnam (5.3%) and Nepal (4.6%) spend [source: CIA world factbook]. By bringing talented and promising individuals into the Fellowship program, Teach For India hopes to create a future pipeline of leaders in multiple sectors who will be connected with the education cause in direct and indirect ways. In addition, Teach For India also aspires to build thought partnerships. The long-term change also includes platform creation. Through efforts like the InspirEd conference (an annual education conference bringing together organizations and schools throughout the education field – InspirEd (innovations in teaching; 2^nd-4^th September 2012) and Headmasters Forum during MCGM project, Teach For India seeks to proactively participate in the creation of platforms where our countries educators and policy-makers can come together, share from each other, learn best practices and ultimately solve the problem. In a way we care piecing together a puzzle: we address some aspects of the problem. Teach For India has an open information-sharing policy throughout the organization. We also have knowledge-sharing sessions throughout the year with a variety of groups (e.g.: Pratham and Umeed).