"Thermax Director Anu Aga says that a corporate would gain from the experience of a Teach For India Fellow"
What excites you about Teach For India?
There are many reasons why I am excited about TFI. I do believe that the best leveler for inequity is education. Since the brightest graduates will be recruited by TFI, underprivileged
students will have an opportunity to learn under them. By attracting the best talent, TFI is bringing pride and dignity to the teaching profession. It has the potential to become a mass movement and in the long run, impact the fundamentals of our education system as is happening in the U.S. Sensitizing our potential leaders to ground reality for two years will be a great investment and will make them caring future leaders.
How do you believe your organisation can contribute to this initiative?
Thermax has readily agreed to allow two engineer trainees to be recruited by TFI for two years.
We will pay the stipend and will be very happy to re-employ them. Since many in our company believe in this programme, we have helped by giving office space to the TFI staff, giving advice and guidance on issues which TFI seeks from time to time. Many corporates have been approached to support TFI and it is very heartening to see how it has been positively received.
Would you value a Teach For India graduate's experience when they come out?
Thermax would certainly value a TFI graduate's experience after he/she completes the two years because this is a tough assignment and the person will have to find innovative ways to reach out and make a difference. In our organisation we come across challenging issues and I am sure these graduates will be better equipped to deal with them. I also believe they will turn out to be more caring executives who will not just think about Thermax but about the larger community in which we operate.
Teach For India believes that in order for the country to achieve educational equity, we need a movement of leaders in a variety of sectors who are committed to and will work toward ensuring that every child in India receives an excellent education.
To build this movement of leaders, Teach For India will recruit India’s most outstanding recent graduates and young professionals to serve as teachers in low income urban and rural schools for two years. In the short run, these young leaders will act as a source of dedicated teachers in government and low-income private schools.TFI will provide resources, training, and support to these Fellows so they can employ innovative teaching strategies and maximize their effectiveness in the classroom. Believing that teaching is leadership, TFI Fellows will go beyond traditional teaching practices, and build upon their own professional development skills, such as organization, critical thinking, management, communications, and leadership, that are applicable and highly in demand in a variety of sectors outside education. Fellows will gain important knowledge and experience of India’s educational system and its challenges, which will enable them to provide solutions to problems faced within their classrooms and school communities.
Upon completion of their two years of service, Teach For India Alumni will collaborate through the organization’s Alumni Network, and regardless of the career path they choose after their TFI Fellowship, will work toward fighting educational inequity in India.
Teach For India believes that the power of one is significant, but the power of many leaders coming together to address social injustice is infinite.