Teach For India Fellowship invites applications for the most challenging year yet

With data suggesting that the pandemic and the subsequent school closures will set under-resourced communities back decades, Fellows have a crucial role to play in keeping learning going

On the completion of this 2-year Fellowship, Teach For India Fellows become a part of a 3400+ members strong Alumni network of sector leaders and changemakers, which includes Safdar Rahman (Director of critically acclaimed film Chippa on Netflix); Anurag Kundu (Chairperson, Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights); Sharmili Phulgirkar (Senior Vice President, Citi); Aniket Doegar (Founder of Haqdarshak); Arja Dayal (Country Director, Innovations for Poverty Action); and Jigyasa Labroo (Co-Founder Slam out loud)

Delhi, 3rd November 2020: Although we have all been affected by the pandemic and the subsequent lockdowns, students and families from low-income communities across the world have taken the biggest hit. According to a recent UN report, the pandemic has forced nearly 1.6 billion learners out of schools across 190 countries, which is 94% of the overall student population. This corresponds to 320 million children in India, with the learning loss set to erase decades of progress. In its most challenging year yet, Teach For India is inviting a second round of applications for its 2021 cohort. The two-year Fellowship allows individuals to join a community of leaders from across the world representing over 300 corporates and college campuses, with varied life experiences, expertise and professions to work towards educational equity in India. The deadline for submitting the applications is 8th November.

The Teach For India Fellowship recruits and selects bright and promising individuals for a full time, paid commitment to serve as teachers to children from low-income communities in some of the nation’s most under-resourced schools. Through two years of the ‘Teaching As Leadership’ model, training, support, and on-ground exposure, Fellows will transform as teachers in the short-term, while also developing critical leadership development skills in the long-term. Our Fellows will work across 260 schools across Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Pune, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Chennai.

As per global reports, the COVID-19 pandemic threatens to reverse the declining global trend of child labour. A joint report by the ILO and United Nations Children’s Fund estimates that a 1 percentage point rise in poverty leads to at least a 0.7 percentage point increase in child labour. When the pandemic resulted in an educational crisis, we witnessed Fellows and Students coming together with innovative teaching techniques and methodologies that made learning accessible even for students who didn’t have access to the digital infrastructure as well as encouraged parents to not take their children out of schools. Apart from the prestigious Fellowship, with initiatives like InnovatED launchpad that supports Alumni entrepreneurs with ed start-ups and Firki, an online, free teacher training platform, Teach For India is striving to make quality education accessible to children everywhere. Sohaib Beg of Udaan and Shreya Krishnan of the Better Design Foundation are some of the 10 entrepreneurs incubated by InnovatED launchpad 2020 Cohort.

Shaheen Mistri, Founder and CEO of Teach For India says, “Finding our Fellows is an ongoing challenge because we want mission-driven people who are willing to commit two full years to this work – a commitment that will likely put them on a different track, forever. To be honest, it can be quite scary for a young person. But the truth is that there are a lot of people who care about the state of the country and a whole lot more who want to make a difference. Today, when we don’t even have access to classrooms, we need caring adults in service of children, more than ever. The two years you spend as a Fellow will be challenging and unique, but it will open your eyes up to the grassroots reality and the inequity in our education system while also showing you the endless possibilities of impact, impact you can create.”

Every year the Fellowship gets candidates from top corporations such as Google, Amazon, Accenture, IBM, General Motors, Novartis, Goldman Sachs, Deloitte, Dell, Citigroup, Tata Group, Wipro, and JP Morgan Chase and welcomes candidates from top colleges such as New York University, University of British Columbia, St. Xavier’s College, Tata Institute of Social Sciences and Delhi University, among others.

“With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, ed-inequity has been more visible than ever before. It’s been overwhelming to see children step up, take responsibility and own their own learning. Whether it be finding ways to attend classes online, managing sharing a single device with their siblings and parents or simply not losing hope, they have taken on the mammoth task of keeping their learning going with grace, compassion and a frightening level of understanding. Witnessing this has only made me more resolute. I will do whatever I can to fix what is in my locus of control and that’s probably what drove me to continue teaching online even when I was unwell. To be honest it was those moments that brought me the most joy on those days, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.” Rabb Nawaz Ahmed, 2019 Fellow said.

Teach For India equips Fellows with skills such as planning and execution, stakeholder management, empathy, patience, and resourcefulness. This has enabled Fellows to become top candidates for consideration at the world’s best universities, such as Harvard, Cornell, IIM, Columbia, and the Tata Institute of Social Sciences; and reputed companies- Godrej, Bain & Company, Salesforce, Radio Mirchi, KPMG, HDFC Bank, etc.

If you find yourself with the skills and will to create a better world- apply for the Teach For India Fellowship today! To apply, visit – https://www.teachforindia.org/become-a-fellow