Transform the lives of 3200 children in 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

Packed with wisdom gained over the last year and learnings from the various training spaces set up by Teach for India, guided by hope, humility, and colossal gratitude, I begin the final lap of my fellowship journey.

I teach English and Social Studies to a talented and curious bunch of one hundred and twenty students in Grade 8 at the Government High School, Rajbhavan, Hyderabad, Telangana. My vision for my students is to be fearless communicators and passionate learners, become self-learners, operate with compassion, curiosity, and critical thinking, and grow up to be conscious young leaders.

I think the current age of technology has offered an excellent opportunity to young learners. Access to the internet can broaden their horizons and take their learning to a whole new level altogether. With covid-19 becoming a regular part of our lives, it was essential to build fluidity to switch from online to offline learning, as per any ongoing situation. The last academic year saw continuous and frequent instances of shifts from online learning to offline learning. The first thing required in this situation was to set up class-wise WhatsApp groups and to connect with parents to spread the word. With the # don'tstoplearning initiative of Teach for India, several devices were handed out to students. We also supported them with internet recharges, ensuring their learning always continues. As a Literacy and Social Studies teacher, I also shared additional resources, homework, and pre-works for classes, such as watching specific content videos and sharing video links for various read-along of English stories in the WhatsApp groups for an enriched learning experience for my students. 

The second year of the Fellowship brings massive scope for us fellows to grow and allows us to connect and problem-solve for our communities in the form of a Be The Change Project (B.T.C.P.). As a lawyer, I choose to work on spreading legal awareness, inculcating the spirit of brotherhood, demonstrating our constitutional norms of equality, liberty, and justice, and equipping them to take legal redressal measures. The primary beneficiaries of this project are the students. I plan to deliver relevant legal knowledge in a child-friendly way, such as concepts and information about privacy (valid for students as they have social media handles), child marriages (it is prevalent in some areas where my students come from), traffic norms, and other such content. I also intend to reach out to my former colleagues and peers from my legal profession and leverage them to create a wholesome experience for my students. Having won and also being runners-up at the 7.0 edition of the Halla Bol (a parliamentary-style debate), I saw a vast scope and starting sparks in my students towards choosing a legal career for themselves. My B.T.C.P. would further nudge them towards achieving this dream. 

I walked in with a desire to give back to society and grow as a teacher. Teach for India provided me with that opportunity, and its rigorous and relevant training spaces equipped me with the skills required in my role. It also gave me a real insight into how the education sector works and enabled me to work at the grassroots level towards fulfilling my duties as a responsible citizen. Teaching my students has been nothing short of a joyful experience. I am humbled and motivated to teach them now, this being my final year with them. I am grateful for the love and appreciation showered upon me by my students, their parents, my peers, colleagues at the school such as senior teachers, Headmistress ma'am, and last but not least, Teach for India, as an organization itself. As I began my Fellowship, I had no doubt whatsoever about how meaningful this journey would be for me, and I have never been disappointed. 

Shreya Singhal

Grade 8

Fellow Cohort 2021

G.H.S. Raj Bhavan, Hyderabad