It's Janauary 12, a fine Tuesday morning. I wake up & call my mother to wish her happy birthday. We discuss Teach For India on call. My internship with Teach For India Selection Team is commencing today.
I don't have any idea about what is expected out of me. I just have one intension of joining Teach For India that I want to bridge the gap between privileged & under privileged, between rulers & masses. I don't know what literacy statics in India say. Plan NGO's website says literacy percentage in India is 61%. A person who can write his or her name is considered a literate. That means 39% Indians cannot even write their name. Am I fit for Teach For India? If I needed a short time job shouldn't I have tried for some internship with an IT company? I am still thinking while getting ready. Do I really want to do this? Do I know what it takes to work for an NGO? What will my friends think who earn many times more?
Teach For India Pune centre operates from K.C. Thakeray primary school near Daruwala Pul. While working with Tech Mahindra I have never been to this place. I was busy visiting multiplexes & malls. Pune is a perfect example of what rapid intrusion of IT does to a city. There is a visible disconnect between lavish IT people & local Punekars who have been living here for centuries.
As I reach Teach For India office I meet Sumit, who is an intern with school placement project. Sheela - my manager is in a meeting. She comes to greet me & says that she talks to me in another 30 minutes. Meanwhile I am issued a laptop which convinces me that I am into real business. Tech Mahindra never issued a laptop to me. There was no necessity. Welcome to Teach For India. It's a mission.
In the meeting Sheela introduces herself & tells me about the objective of Teach For India. What is Teach For India Fellowship? What is the selection process? Who are the other members in the selection team? What are the parameters considered while selecting a Fellows? She asks me to visit a few websites & read a few documents which I do. Days pass & I learn more & more about education inequity. About Fellowship. About selection process which is by far the most efficient selection process I have ever experienced. Teach For India selectors are told that behind every application there is a person. A person is not just a profile & utmost justice should be done to each application. In my third week at Teach For India I interview 2010 Fellowship applicants. It's fun interacting with someone making huge money in IT, handling a database with millions of records, now willing to manage a classroom.
As I write this blog I have already spent four weeks at Teach For India & I am already involved in nearly all the activities of selection team. I also get opportunity to meet 2009 Fellows & find many inspirational leaders in them. I have already talked to Shaheen Mistri, Teach for India, CEO & founder of Akanksha. My biggest achievement till now - managed eight interviewers & more than two hundred interviews in a week.
Tech Mahindra vs. Teach For India
The objective of both the organizations is different & hence they cannot be compared head-to-head. Tech Mahindra is focused to provide software solutions & application support to it's customers & create wealth for all share holders & employees. Simultaneously it has CSR initiatives like project - Nanhi Kali to support education of underprivileged girl child. On the other hand Teach For India is a mission to eliminate education inequity. Professionals join Tech Mahindra for good salaries & progressive career path. Teach For India cannot offer salary structure similar to Tech Mahindra but stress levels are quite low at Teach For India. Teach For India is smaller in size but it finds equally talented workforce. People work here with passion & they get opportunity to develop leadership qualities in real big way.
