Transform the lives of 3200 children in Hyderabad

I always believed that the youth of a country is duty bound to participate in nation-building as the history least burdens them and have a strong conviction to bring about transformational changes. To pursue this vision, I quit my job at a reputed software company and prepared for civil services to join the bureaucracy. After a while, I was looking for opportunities that would tap into my knowledge and skills gained during my civil service preparation. I wanted to experience the public systems at the grassroots level. I wanted to hear from different stakeholders and widen my perspective. I applied for Teach For India Fellowship with a skeptical mind, as I never did teaching, but I was up for the challenge.

When I started my Fellowship, it was the first wave of covid pandemic, and I was overwhelmed. However, I was surprised to learn how exceptional the students were and how they would turn my life upside down. Classes were online via the devices that we distributed. After some effort, I was able to build rapport with them. Seeing my students battle everything around them also made me realize how protected I have been all my life. It makes you value the things you have in your life. It makes you think. During the Fellowship, you learn how access to education differs significantly from access to quality education. You understand how government policies affect ground realities and sometimes how counterproductive they are about helping the child.

One of my first challenges in school was the cultural breakdown in class. The students had been away from school for almost a year and a half, resulting in a very low attention span and no motivation to study. A similar trend was observed in parent investment in the child's studies. I decided to bring in all the stakeholders: the student, parents, and the school administration. I held regular conversations with the parents for a couple of months, where they had to regularly update a checklist of what and when the students did once they returned home from school. This soon brought a sense of ownership to the parents. We gradually saw improvements in the student's attendance and homework submission.

During the first year of my Fellowship, I was part of Be The Change Project called Udaan, which provided career guidance for 10th-grade students. While conducting the research, I understood the plight of students regarding career awareness. They needed to learn their strong areas and the different career options for higher studies. I discussed this problem with my program manager and City Director. Teach for India signed a partnership with Vocatio(a career guidance organization in Hyderabad) to conduct a career guidance program in not only my school but 10 other schools over a period of 6 months. We conducted career awareness sessions for students and parents, and it's my great accomplishment that they are in a perfect place to make informed decisions about their future careers.

It's been a journey of self-discovery, personally. I have learned so much about myself that I would have never been able to if I ever worked anywhere else. I know how to be patient. I have learned not to give up when the situation seems grim and not to judge people by their looks or where they come from. I have learned that ambition is one of the essential things in life. I have learned that grit can get you through situations that you cannot imagine. I have learned that sometimes we need someone to listen to us and show genuine care. I have seen my students who have completed their tenth class create an impact on their families and the people around them. This has been only possible through the continuous efforts of Fellows before me who have shaped the mindset of these children to strive for something they hadn't heard or dreamt of. For these reasons, the movement of transforming individuals into leaders who will work towards reducing education inequity needs to continue and transform the lives of our students.

Vineeth T V
Cohort of 2021
Teach For India Hyderabad 

It has been a short time since I started my Fellowship journey. Yet, it feels like a lifetime of meaning acquired, and knowledge transpired to me. I know what it is to be responsible for a cause and have the ability to bring change. It has been one year and a half since I have been a Fellow at Teach For India and a facilitator to my Students. I have taught the tenth grade in the past year and led the seventh grade this year. I have had my fair share of failures, successes, and highlights throughout this term. My term in tenth grade had a rocky start with continuous culture breakdown, failed one-on-one conversations, and rough relations with Head Mistress and the community due to language barriers. However, after some weeks, I could poke in through the rigid boundaries of language and create a space for myself among my Students and other stakeholders via jokes, empathetic space, and reward structures with Students.

Concerning the community, my co-Fellow and I could build relations with our students' parents through continuous community visits and conversations over the phone after school. During my visits, it was heartbreaking to learn about incidents in and around the community (child marriages, physical abuse, lack of sexual education, etc.), which directly or indirectly affected and influenced the Students. We, as facilitators, could only make conversations about it with parents, the Head Mistress, and Students with little result. I can never forget the time in tenth grade when one of my Students, Naman, who had continuously been at a lower reading level, showed immense improvement and courage while applying for a scholarship program. He took part along with his other friends at a higher reading level. It amazed and inspired me to see him work hard and be rigorously immersed in the application process without feeling an iota of shame or embarrassment. With these experiences and learnings, I entered the second year of my Fellowship as a facilitator for the seventh grade at GHS Rajbhavan, Hyderabad, where I teach English and Science. Having had barriers regarding language, I made sure it didn't affect my relations with my stakeholders all over again in this term of the Fellowship. It was my first instinct to develop ties with the Student's family and the school's headmistress, which was successful and adequate. During my term in seventh grade, I had an apparent goal set in my mind regarding culture management. I want my Students to be more aware of their surroundings, have the agency to voice their opinion, and act more responsibly in a situation.

With this agenda in mind, I commenced an SEL space titled 'Rajsabha,' where my Students and I, as a class, would bring up a sensitive issue (Rape, stocking, demeaning confidence, inequality in race and gender). We direct our conversation in such a way that we express our emotions and thoughts to each other and educate ourselves in the process. I have seen one of my Students, named Kamlesh, changing his demeanor from someone who would discriminate against girls in the class and abuse his male friends for crying (name-calling them as girls) or being friends with the girls to someone who believed that (in his words) "if my friend cries, that means he is brave." My co-Fellow and I have seen a drastic change in his behavior, and now the class wants to appoint him as the class leader! The Socio-Emotional Learning (SEL) spaces gave me a good insight into the more significant problems of the community and state. It was shocking and, at the same time, terrifying to find out about the number of seventh-grade Students being stocked, physically assaulted, and sexually abused regularly. Along with in-depth discussions, I wanted to provide a proper redressal forum for the victims, which was possible with professional help.

As my mandatory 'Be The Change Project', I took up a project titled 'ABHAY' along with my school team, which primarily focuses on middle school Students. The aim is to execute legal awareness about violence and create an agency for the victims to speak up against it in situations. Our primary focus is on sexual violence and crimes against women. As a kickstart, we have planned to continue with the Rajsabha sessions, including a more flexible structure where each Student is addressed and checked with regarding understanding of the violence and a possible transition in perception.

Teach For India has looked out for its Fellows by providing career counseling to create opportunities. I have decided to pursue a Ph.D. in Curriculum Development in the future, where I want to design literature that has exposure to awareness regarding violence in society. For the same, I wish to gain experience in the field of research as a research assistant in organizations like J Pal, Central Square Foundation, etc. The Teach For India Sessions regarding different pathways and careers were beneficial. The facilitators have helped me with a lot of information on the type of programs, the path to follow while considering Ph.D. applications, and countries I could apply to for the same. Very recently, I experienced the sweet joy of watching my tenth-grade Student come back as a Student Alumnus and take part in the Student Alumni Movement of Teach For India to lineage other Students in terms of jobs, higher education, etc. This inspired me to bring my research and resources back to where I learned the meaning of life and self the most, i.e., Teach For India.

Sanjita Mohanty

Cohort of 2021

GHS Rajbhavan

Teach For India Hyderabad