NSEF Authors of Change

Your chance to intern in some of the best social enterprises is here — The application for the much coveted NSEF Authors of Change is now open

The National Social Entrepreneurship Forum (NSEF) will select 50 Authors of Change for their summer program and will place them in premier social entrepreneurial organizations such as Naandi Foundation, Industree Crafts, Saath, Miracle Couriers, Ennovent, Samhita Social Ventures and thirty others all across India. These young leaders will be working on highly entrepreneurial and challenging roles which vary from Strategy, Innovation, Marketing, Social Media, supply Chain Management, HR, Outreach, Business Development, B plan Development, Website Design, Communications, Finance, Product Development etc.
NSEF Authors of change is a one of its kind, a high social impact two month internship program where students engage their summer solving some of the most pressing problems of social organizations. These students are selected on the basis of their demonstrated passion and commitment towards social change, leadership experience and their aspiration to become change agents for their society. The program will also create a network of young leaders who will be provided with access to mentors and experts from the sector. During the internship these authors learn from each other through regular interactions, sharing knowledge through blogs and other platforms. The internship will culminate with a BootCamp where social entrepreneurs, thought leaders and experts in the social sector will have an intensive workshop on social entrepreneurship.

Srikumar Murthy, Co-Founder and Director of National Social Entrepreneurship Forum says, “Last year we received close to 500 applications for 25 odd positions in about fifteen partner social enterprises. Students from some of the best institutes in India like IIM’s, IIT’s, NIT’s St. Stephens, St Xavier’s were a part of this program. These students demonstrated a significant impact in their work which drew a lot of appreciation from our partner organizations. There were plenty of learning opportunities for these students to not only work at the grassroots but also get involved in some sort of strategic decision making processes of these organizations. Our placement process is respected a lot in these organizations and we try our best to make it a win-win situation for both the organizations and the students.”

National Social Entrepreneurship Forum (NSEF) is a non-for-profit organization with a mission of promoting Social entrepreneurship amongst youth of India. To achieve this goal, NSEF has students chapters at prestigious institutions like Tata Institute of Social Sciences, IIM’s, IIT’s, BITS etc. and has emerged as one of the premier platform for students interested in Social entrepreneurship. NSEF Authors of Change is one of its flagship programs.

“We appeal to all students interested in making a change to apply for this prestigious program. Some of our last year’s Authors of change have gone ahead to start their own social enterprise, some have become innovators and won many coveted awards. Such is the impact of this program”, says Srikumar.

To apply visit http://nsef-india.org/authorsofchange/

 

Mumbai Transformation Project- Milind Nagda

Milind, a 2009 TFI Fellow writes about Teach For India’s efforts to transform education in MCGM schools.

Today the dialog in India’s focus on primary education has moved from enrollment to quality. The Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai schools have close to 98% primary enrollment with an average student to teacher ratio of ~35. 85% of the classrooms are in “good condition” and the basic infrastructure is in place. There have been several initiatives including the Maharashtra Sarva Siksha Abhiyan and Mid-day meal program to improve the quality of school education and student experience.

Yet, there are severe need to manage the several challenges — at the core of all the challenges, there exists tremendous scope to improve student learning outcomes. The quality of education remains poor, substantiated by the fact that any family who can afford to pay for the child’s education prefers to move the child out of the public schooling system. The foundational language and maths skills are found to be poor, which lead to high drop-out rates especially in higher classes. In-service training for teachers is limited and field coaching is non-existent.

1400 schools. 14000 teachers. 450000 children. 8 mediums of education. The system is yearning for change! MCGM and Teach For India has launched an initiative to transform the student learning outcomes of our schools with a vision “One day all MCGM teachers will want to send their own kids to the schools they teach in”.

Teach For India will start by placing approximately 50 Fellows to teach in 15 Municipal Schools. These Fellows will work indefatigably to make their classes a “model” class in these schools. We hope to cause ripples of “change ” by bringing their knowledge, skills and mindsets into the school staff rooms.

You can stand on the side and watch us. Or you would much rather support us. Let the transformation begin. Now!

Prajwalan- Igniting minds

Volunteers across India are spreading the word about Teach For India on their campus through various events.  A volunteer in Amravati has taken up the responsibility of spreading awareness about Teach For India through his college fest Prajwalan.

Time	Monday, February 28 at 9:00am – March 1 at 6:00pm
Location	Goverment College Of Engineering Amravati Amravati, India
More Info	‘PRAJWALAN’ is National level technical festival organised by Goverment College Of Engineering Amravati WE are having several events both in technical and non technical event are as follows 1) B plan 2)c\c++ Programming 3)code Frenzy 4)CAD\CAM 5)Circuit Designing 6)Comp u-H(PC assembling) 7)Green Building 8)Junk ART 9)Junk yard 10)LAN Gaming 11)Model Exhibition 12) Paper Presentation 13)Robotics 14)Town Planning and various workshop as well as other on spot events awaiting for you The attraction of this year is that we are launching a new inter college competition Top 5 colleges whose participation and winning will be highest are eligible to participate in ‘PRAJWALAN CUP’ for more details please check http://www.gcoea.ac.in/prajwalan2011/index.htm

Renaissance- Rejuvenating Rural India

Teach For India is proud to partner with Renaissance India which aims to transform rural India through youth participation and collaboration.

Renaissance (French for “Rebirth”)Renaissance was a movement that began in late 13th century which brought a transformational change and bridged the middle ages to modern era. We once again beckon for a Renaissance to bridge the urban rural divide which is leading to strains in society.

Renaissance would create an ecosystem for members, volunteers and mentors to collaborate and to find innovative solutions to the chronic problems existing in rural India and be a channel linking the rural decision makers for implementation of the solutions generated. We thus make a call to the youths and every citizen of this country to participate in nation building in whatever capacity they can. Our mission is to address, solve and implement the top priority problems of fifty odd villages of India by 2012 by collaborative efforts. In the process we would motivate and engage the youths to participate in nation building by offering useful resources, rich network and support solving the grass root problems.

The platform of renaissance also believes in spreading awareness about the development sector, social Entrepreneurship in rural India. It promotes as well as supports organizing guest lectures, conferences, workshops etc. It also identifies and connect individuals to internship/fellowship programs with various social entrepreneurs & reputed developmental sector organizations.

Renaissance is organizing a social entrepreneurship fest at BITS-Pilani from 4-6th March. You can read more about it here: http://www.renaissance-india.org/ren2011/

“Classroom: An Experimental Lab.”- Prakhar Bhartiya

As I am writing this note I would just hope that I don’t read about one more scandal in our country tomorrow morning. Inefficient government, corrupt politician and bureaucrats, selfish business houses, inflation at its peak and dying common man. This is the situation of our country.

Things need to be changed but how, who will do it? The onus is on us but it is very hard for a young passionate Indian to think of a change and get started with it. I was lucky enough to get this opportunity. Teach For India gave me a platform where I can work at the bottom of pyramid, work with hundreds of other passionate, committed youth.

Not only I, my close ones also feel tremendous personal transformation in me over this period of fellowship. Today rather than just debating over a problem, I feel like providing or finding a solution to it, I feel myself to be more a responsible and proactive citizen. The classroom and the community has been a testing laboratory for me, there is a great deal of learning here. A simple thing is that if I need to find a solution to the problems of the half a billion Indians, I need to have spent time with them, seen them closely and should have the ability to connect to them. An elite who has been to such places only after a disaster or any natural calamity can’t give solution to their problems because he can’t connect to them. My classroom and community gave me the opportunity to learn more about them and strengthened my personal belief towards being a part of the political system.

Working in a government school for two years has helped me a lot to understand how the government system is made dysfunctional. Education which is one of the root causes of our nation’s problem is given least importance in a school. Today I can say that in most of the government school where the focus should be its student, the focus is on completing attendance register and the students are the last item in their priority list. Here I would like to share an incident from my class. One of my “Superstar” Shahid was categorised as mentally challenged by the school authorities and I was told about it during the beginning of the academic year. I tried to notice him and yes he behaved in some unusual manner, he was a very quite child but always had a big cheeky smile on his face. What I found over a couple of months was that he lacked in self confidence and was afraid of people around him. I had many one to one conversations with him, met his family and went out for partying with him. The change was evident, I used to praise him for his smallest accomplishment in classroom, he started gaining confidence and one day I told the longest word in English language in class and Shahid was the first one to spell it correctly. This was the day when he really gained his confidence and I was the happiest teacher on planet. In the next term examination he secured 13^th rank in class and I believe that in future he would be a different person due to this gain in confidence. This is the story of one such Shahid and there are many more such Shahids in Indian classrooms who need the right direction and some love. There are many such stories of transformation which I have witnessed in my classroom and I feel blessed to be a teacher because these small smiles give me the confidence to move ahead and take the bigger challenge.

The level of confidence that I have in me is immense, now I believe that yes “I Can” be the difference because I have seen things changing. Personal transformation is not a small thing, it happens only when something challenges your belief every day, breaks you down and that happens in a classroom ever day. I love being in my classroom, my real life experimental lab where my kids are my teacher, teaching me the important lessons of life before I take the bigger challenge.

Thanks “Superstars: The Leaders of Tomorrow” and thanks “TFI Family”….!!!

“Service before Self”

– Love Prakhar Bhartiya

Writer is a pioneer batch(2009) fellow in TFI. He is a Gandhian, budding politician, a social entrepreneur and an agent of change. Follow him on:  http://www.prakharbhartiya.blogspot.com/

28 hours left: Final Deadline….!!!

P(l)eace Walk- Srini

Like it is for most fellows, the roads leading to my School are very crowded, chaotic and noisy (Let’s call this the CCN Road instead of the usual, Mahatma Gandhi road) Oh, and they make me sneeze all the time. There is an alternative road through Sion but I don’t prefer that because of one reason – on the CCN road, I see kids coming back from School or on the way to School. On weekdays, there are plenty of school kids and on Saturdays or ‘lafda’ holidays (!) there aren’t many. Often, I bump into my class kids. The glee and joy on their face when they see me at a distance is worth a million. Add to that, a screaming “BHAIYA !” that makes many heads turn. And before I know, there are 5 or 6 tiny hands holding me and animatedly talking while walking to School. On some rare days, I see only one kid, walking slowly, eyes meandering over the colourful trinkets and candies on display in the shops, or stopping by to take a peek into a game of marbles. Holding the hand of a child and walking slowly to School, while talking to him/her is sheer happiness. It is different than the classroom because, here there are no rules, no sense of urgency or panic. Just the Bhaiya and the Child. Such walks give me a good insight into what he thinks about School and also how he feels in general. Most importantly. it is such a great bonding exercise and bestows immediate peace.

The other day, I got late. I slept late, as usual and woke up late. I was sitting in front of the computer, working on something and realised it’s going to be a mad rush to School. Tension X 10. By the time the auto reached Dharavi, I was just irritated at the noise, crowds and sneezing. And, when I was about to pay, the auto driver didn’t have change. Damn. So, here I was sitting in the auto in a not so calm situation. Suddenly, I heard a “Bhaiyaaa” and little Sajid peeped into the auto with a cute smile. He is usually very quiet and introvert. But today, he just showed so much expression that I immediately calmed down, somehow paid and got down. He immediately grasped my hand and started walking towards School. Tiny, sweaty fingers. He talked about the breakfast, his wounds, the school and how he liked our ‘colourful and beautiful” class. On the way, we stopped by the Sugarcane juice stall to drink some juice. In a few minutes, I experienced so much peace.

When was the last time you took a walk with a child ?

 

I don’t know why- Meera, 2010 Fellow

“The stages new teachers move through during their first year  –Anticipation, the short period that usually begins during training, comes first. The beginning teacher looks forward to the new career with a mix of excitement and anxiety. Survival follows close on its heals, soon after school starts. The overwhelmed teacher struggles to stay afloat. This period normally lasts six to eight weeks but can go on indefinitely. Then there is Disillusionment, a phase of profound disenchantment when new teachers question both their commitment and their competence.Rejuvenation, eventually follows. For the lucky ones, it begins after winter break and continues well into spring. For the not-so-lucky, it can take weeks, if not months to kick in. Finally, as the school year winds down, there is Reflection, the final phase of the cycle, in which the teacher begins to envision what the second year in the classroom will look like.”

– From Relentless Pursuit, Donna Foote

I have always wondered why people take on impossible tasks and keep at them, even when things look hopeless. What motivates them? Especially when tangibles like money, ambition, fame, recognition etc. are not involved?

Perhaps this was one of the reasons for signing up for the TFI fellowship. To figure things out.  But I am far from it. In fact, things are more baffling now, than before. After a 5 week boot camp training and 8 weeks into the classroom, I am confronted by questions every second of the day and I have no answers. Is this a mere masochistic experiment? Why do I do what I do? And more importantly,why should I keep at it?

Two weeks back, during a group debrief, my Program Manager* talked of the 2-month low. Having been a Teach First Fellow herself a few years back, she knew what she was talking about. Two months into the classroom is usually the time around which the fellow hits the lowest point. (This is not to mean that the lowest low cannot hit one at other times.) She recalled her own experience saying that during her stint, schools in UK started in September and the 2-month low hit around November, coinciding with bitter dreary dark winters, which certainly did not help her cause.

I can understand this two month thing. The novelty (beginner’s enthusiasm) of teaching in a low income school slowly wears off only leave one with a certain hopelessness. One balks at the enormity of the task ahead. Move the class ahead by 1.5 years? A 7th grader that cannot write his name in English? Oh my God, but he does not know his alphabets!  Add to the mix – violence, arrogance, rebellion, malnutrition, dire poverty, dysfunctional families and self destructive attitude, adolescent confusions (if teaching a higher grade). You have one depressive cocktail. Gulp. And it is bound to hit one hard.

At the two month point, one begins to take stock differently. These things existed before, but earlier there were excuses.  One could always tell oneself, ‘But I am new, I don’t know my class, I haven’t established rapport with the parents etc.’ But what if, after two months, things are still quite bad? There is nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, nothing to do except to confront one’s demons.

There are some hard questions to face. Let me keep aside the Whys for just an instant. Things are tough, as they are. Am I doing everything (and I mean, absolutely everything) I can, to push my class ahead? Can I keep doing this in the face of absolutely no progress? Then of course, the most baffling (to me) of them all – Why am I doing this? Why can’t I just quit and leave?

The truth is I sit in my classroom today confronting a low point. I sit where Priyanka usually sits –  near the  window and I can feel the drizzle on my back.

I am not ready to talk about specifics. Yet. What happened? What triggered it?Details don’t matter. While not a great proponent (personally) of sharing feelings, somehow I am more comfortable sharing it here, on the blog. It is like a message in a bottle thrown into the sea, hoping someone would read it.

I sobbed like one of the children in my class, felt instantly better and looked around my classroom. Enclosed by plastered walls, and a barely-there roof and window shutters that don’t close, this classroom is where I do my daily Dandi March, 5 hours a day – round and round. Without the children, it is quiet and non nondescript. Benches strewn around, light streaming in through crevices. A sea change from the air conditioned conference rooms and cubicles. Sometimes I feel a strange ownership towards it – something that I haven’t felt towards any of the houses I have lived in.

Down and out. On a day like today.

And then, there is always a to-do list. It seems to miraculously grow longer, even after a 12 hour work day. I flip through it and my first thought is – Wait, I cannot sit here and ruminate. I have to visit two families of my class today! So, here I am, a limited being, trying to work my way down a never ending to-do list. Perhaps I should add to the list – “Take time to think why you are doing this.” Is this how life is?

It is not time management that bothers me. Its the lack of progress. Not the progress of the students – but the progress of me, as their teacher. I am beginning to think that the achievement of my class is limited most of all by my inadequacies. Sometimes, just barely, I notice that the more structured my life is (which it seldom is), the more structured my class is. But it is hard to achieve a structured life when most questions are unanswered.

The only thing I am aware of is a strange instinct to keep at this even though its difficult, and put my students ahead of everything else. It is not because of some weird brainwashing or auto suggestion. It is not conscious at all but I realise its presence on hindsight.  Especially in situations where choices have to be made. I don’t understand the cause or the nature of this instinct. Perhaps that is all that is required.

But the truth is, I need a sign. From the heavens. Like now.

(Great! All I can hear is the rain on the leaking roof.)

Ah well, this post is all over the place, just like me. One thing is for sure – I’ll be back tomorrow even though I don’t know why. Praise the lord and pass the ammunition. That sort of thing.

* for the uninitiated, Program Manager aka PM manages a group of Fellows, mentoring them during the fellowship.

I am floored!- Srini

This is another game that has been working well in class. While thinking of ways to make learning sight words more fun, I remembered an idea I had read somewhere – you could paste important words on the floor, walls of the school so that the kids read it every day and retain. Since our floor is muddy, there is no easy way to paste words. The next best thing is to write with a chalk that has been dipped in water.

So, rather than just writing the words on the floor, I make it into a game. Here is how it goes:

1. Write some 20 sight words on the floor before the kids come into classroom with chalk dipped in water (better visibility + lasts longer)

2. Pick a random name using ice cream sticks (names of kids written on them) / chits of paper with kids names

3. Give a word to the kid and he/she has to go find that word WITHIN a minute. If so, his team gets a point. If he can’t find that word, you can give a homework based on that word.

4. While one kid is finding the word, other kids can be engaged in reading the word list or just cheering the kid who is trying to find the word.

English All Around- Srini

In the few hours that my children and I get within the classroom, I am striving to make it a learning environment that speaks of excellence.Excellence in every inch inside the classroom. While planning for one of the lessons, whose objective was to make kids learn signs and labels from their environment, I had used wrappers, biscuit covers and everyday things to show the children that they can pick up English words from these things. They loved it ! And I was a happy teacher that day because I got to do something creative without spending much money 

The other day, I was thinking of a way to make use of this corner space in the classroom, when this idea was born – why not convert it into a display of sorts where we could permanently (ok..not so much permanence here !) stick these things and keep telling the children everyday that they can learn English all around and not just in the classroom.

Btw, the Minute Maid Orange juice bottle is empty  It looks full of juice because of the orange color paper in the background !

I ll write about this idea in a few weeks from now to tell you whether it’s been working or not.