Learn priceless lessons for life as you teach the lesser privileged children and work at making inequity in education history...
Having previously taught primary school children, I am particularly inclined to indulging them and endlessly listening to them prattle. Once, as I observed two innately sharp and eager kids from two different economic strata of society, it dawned on me how our country’s misdeeds (towards an ever-widening educational inequity) were limiting the growth of lakhs of bright children. For while the 8-year-old Sudhir (a helper’s child who went to a government-run school) was as witty and keen as the same-aged Sarah (a financial consultant’s daughter studying at a ‘reputed’ public school with world-class standards), his lack of exposure to the learning experience as hers (despite the same education board), had exponentially widened the gap between their respective banks of knowledge, apart from also impeding his ability to grasp new concepts.
Though this existing system of education can’t be turned around in the short-run, an innovative initiative – Teach for India – formally started in 2008 by a group of young leaders, shows promise of bridging this educational inequity. Inspired by the success of Wendy Kopp’s Teach for America initiative, and the positive results of the study carried to learn about the feasibility of similar implementation in India, the organisation is recruiting ‘outstanding college graduates and young professionals’ for its full-time two-year Fellowship. ‘Committing two-years to teach full-time in under-resourced schools’, these fellows are trained to become successful teachers and leaders.
While such exemplary initiatives clear off the hurdle of requiring mandatory degrees and qualifications for imparting knowledge, there are a growing number of recession-hit stressed professionals across the world who are increasingly seeking solace and satisfaction in teaching courses and jobs.
A recent study by a UK-based school workforce training organisation TDA, (Training and Development Agency for Schools) found that enquiries for teacher training have gone up by 50%, that too by people with banking, legal, architectural and management backgrounds. The research found that most people do not anymore consider holding a high-status management job as important, but are looking for meaningful work with manageable stress-levels, which allows more time for pursuing leisure activities.
In India this trend is quite common among women, though for different reasons. Reema, a primary school English teacher in Delhi says, “I have done my MBA from Symbiosis, Pune and have worked as an HR professional for long. But my growing-up daughters needed more of my time and I couldn’t handle the pressure of running the house with a managerial job, so I opted for teaching. Whatever were the reasons, today, I think, I go back home with a sense of accomplishment and not stress about tomorrow’s schedules.”
Though majority of India’s education sector would continue to see this trend of bias for teaching profession, there are a growing number of World Schools that are hiring people who can blend their experience and team management skills with academic knowledge. But such schools too are only for the privileged few. For improving young lives like that of Sudhir’s, we need more Indians to come forward for initiatives like ‘Teach for India’, so that the rest of India can also be privy to world-class educational standards..
For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article
Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009
Having previously taught primary school children, I am particularly inclined to indulging them and endlessly listening to them prattle. Once, as I observed two innately sharp and eager kids from two different economic strata of society, it dawned on me how our country’s misdeeds (towards an ever-widening educational inequity) were limiting the growth of lakhs of bright children. For while the 8-year-old Sudhir (a helper’s child who went to a government-run school) was as witty and keen as the same-aged Sarah (a financial consultant’s daughter studying at a ‘reputed’ public school with world-class standards), his lack of exposure to the learning experience as hers (despite the same education board), had exponentially widened the gap between their respective banks of knowledge, apart from also impeding his ability to grasp new concepts.
Though this existing system of education can’t be turned around in the short-run, an innovative initiative – Teach for India – formally started in 2008 by a group of young leaders, shows promise of bridging this educational inequity. Inspired by the success of Wendy Kopp’s Teach for America initiative, and the positive results of the study carried to learn about the feasibility of similar implementation in India, the organisation is recruiting ‘outstanding college graduates and young professionals’ for its full-time two-year Fellowship. ‘Committing two-years to teach full-time in under-resourced schools’, these fellows are trained to become successful teachers and leaders.
While such exemplary initiatives clear off the hurdle of requiring mandatory degrees and qualifications for imparting knowledge, there are a growing number of recession-hit stressed professionals across the world who are increasingly seeking solace and satisfaction in teaching courses and jobs.
A recent study by a UK-based school workforce training organisation TDA, (Training and Development Agency for Schools) found that enquiries for teacher training have gone up by 50%, that too by people with banking, legal, architectural and management backgrounds. The research found that most people do not anymore consider holding a high-status management job as important, but are looking for meaningful work with manageable stress-levels, which allows more time for pursuing leisure activities.
In India this trend is quite common among women, though for different reasons. Reema, a primary school English teacher in Delhi says, “I have done my MBA from Symbiosis, Pune and have worked as an HR professional for long. But my growing-up daughters needed more of my time and I couldn’t handle the pressure of running the house with a managerial job, so I opted for teaching. Whatever were the reasons, today, I think, I go back home with a sense of accomplishment and not stress about tomorrow’s schedules.”
Though majority of India’s education sector would continue to see this trend of bias for teaching profession, there are a growing number of World Schools that are hiring people who can blend their experience and team management skills with academic knowledge. But such schools too are only for the privileged few. For improving young lives like that of Sudhir’s, we need more Indians to come forward for initiatives like ‘Teach for India’, so that the rest of India can also be privy to world-class educational standards..
For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article
Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009
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