Wendy Kopp
Exactly a year after the Teach For India (TFI) campaign took off in the city, the entire team got the opportunity to interact with the woman who first introduced this concept in the US under the banner Teach For America (TFA), way back in 1989. Wendy Kopp,
CEO and founder of TFA, addressed the Fellows of the TFI campaign on Friday evening.
“It all started with an idea in my head when I was a senior in college. I was worried about the state of education in our country. In about four months of sticking fliers at various places, we got applications from 2,500 students from all over. After months of interviewing, we finally saw the first batch of 500 TFA Fellows,’’ said Kopp, who is in the city for a week.
Kopp spoke about her experiences in the past 18 years, since the first time this concept was implemented in US and the changes she sees today. “The impact on the lives of the children and the enthusiasm and leadership potential in thousands of Fellows is inspiring. All this just proves that education inequity is a solvable problem, if initiative is taken at the right time,’’ she said. ‘‘Providing transformative education is truly the challenge,’’ she said.
The current team of TFI Fellows operates at 33 schools in Mumbai and Pune and is attempting to better the education pattern for over 3,000 students. “To see other teachers trying to adopt our method of teaching is worth all our efforts,’’ said Edward Fanthone, a graduate from Delhi University.
TFI is planning to spread its campaign to Delhi this year. Those interested in applying for the 2011 Fellowship, log on to www.teachforindia.org.
Teach For India 