The Education Crisis in India
India is facing an education crisis that is two-fold. Firstly, many students do not make it through the
system. According to a recent World Bank study, in 2007 alone, India had over 7 million out of school
children, and it is estimated that more than 1 in 3 children who begin primary school will drop out
before reaching the fifth grade. Secondly, the students that are in the system receive a vastly
inadequate education. While wealthy Indian children have access to quality education, their low-income
peers continue to lag 2-3 grade levels behind, on average. According to NASSCOM, of the 3 million
graduates and post graduates entering the workforce each year, only 25% of technical graduates and
10-15% of other graduates are considered employable. Some of the major reasons for this state of
affairs are - teacher absenteeism of 25%, unmanageable student-teacher ratios, and the prevalence of
counter-productive practices like rote learning and corporal punishment.
The Opportunity
Teach For India believes that education is the single most fundamental social issue, especially in a
country whose age demographic reflects a concentration (over 50%) of the population below 25 years.
Education is a priceless asset dictating one’s life. Fixing the educational system and infusing more
empowered individuals across sectors is paramount.
Educated young people have the potential and skills to become entrepreneurs, skilled workers, and
leaders of tomorrow. Teach For India believes that it is a collective responsibility to ensure we avert a
crisis and educate the next generation of Indians. The Fellowship model is designed to create leaders
and innovators not only among the Fellows but this is also passed on to the students the programme
impacts. Guided by the passion and relentless efforts of the Fellows - students are made aware of the
countless opportunities available to them, educated through innovative teaching methodologies, holistic
development through projects that the Fellows design and implement in their classrooms.
Teach For India – Vision and Mission
The vision of Teach For India is that one day, all children will attain an excellent education. This lies in
stark contrast to the situation today, wherein few students pass through the system, and most of those
that do, receive a highly inadequate education. Because of the size and complexity of the Indian
education system, coupled with rapid population growth and urbanization, grassroots interventions
alone are insufficient to address the problems.
The core belief at Teach For India is that the root of systemic change is leadership – leadership that
understands the problem, knows how to change it, and is committed to doing so. Teach For India's
mission is to build a movement of leaders who will end educational inequity. Teach For India recruits
India's most outstanding college graduates and young professionals and places them as full time
teachers in under-resourced schools for two years.
Part 1 - Fellowship
Part 2 - Alumni Movement
In the short run, these young leaders act as a source of dedicated teachers in government and lowincome private schools. In the long run, Teach For India will build a powerful and ever-growing
leadership force of alumni who, informed by their experiences and insights, will work from inside and
outside the educational system to effect the fundamental, long-term changes necessary to ultimately
realize educational opportunity for all.
Teach For India Model
Teach For India has a five part model:
1. Talent Sourcing: Teach For India recruits the highest-quality university graduates and young
professionals, who drive student achievement and become life-long leaders able to effect
systemic change. For the 2014 Fellowship, Teach For India received 13,500 applications and
selected 525 new Fellows, those with the most exceptional track records of leadership and
demonstrated commitment to the cause.
2. Talent Development: Teach For India then provides participants with rigorous training and
professional development. Training begins with an intensive five-week residential course, led by
international experts, and continues with weekly trainings and support from mentor teachers,
throughout the two years.
3. Talent Placement: Teach For India places participants for two years in full-time teaching
positions, with clear accountability for their classrooms, in areas with educational inequality
where impact on student achievement will be maximized. An extensive rubric is used to
determine which schools are chosen, with emphasis on the need within those schools, and their
willingness to partner.
4. Alumni Impact: Teach For India plays an active role in ensuring that the Alumni of the program
are excellent ambassadors who have the mind-sets and skills to create exponential and
collective impact who will lead the change and fight for education inequity. The Alumni are
spread across diverse sectors – becoming teachers, school leaders, policy makers, lawyers,
artists, corporate leaders who will work together to make India a nation where all children reach
their potential. This includes arranging summer internships between the first and second years
of the Fellowship, hosting “pathway calls” through conference calls hosting leaders and alumni
in the educational sector for Fellows, mentorship programs for Fellows, and career support,
which in 2013-14 featured approximately 141 employers and 296 job postings. Over 60% of
5.
alumni have stayed back in the social development sector because of their experience at Teach
For India.
6. Measurable Impact: Teach For India works to drive measurable short-term impact on student
achievement and foster long-term development of leaders who will help eliminate educational
inequality. Teach For India assesses impact on student achievement, the school and community,
and on the Fellows themselves.

In 2012-13, Teach For India initiated a longitudinal study in collaboration with Columbia
University and Educational Initiatives. In conducting a 'longitudinal' study, we are essentially
committing to track and measure how our students are growing over an extended period of
time (July 2012 to March 2016).

We analysed impact using a quasi-experimental ‘Difference in Differences’ study design,
which compares the percentage gain in test scores of students in Teach For India classrooms
(Treatment Group) with that of students in comparable non-Teach For India classrooms
(Control Group). [Percentage Gain = Difference in scores between the two tests (July 2013
vs. February 2014) divided by the base (July 2013)]
The results for the second year of the Study show that in English and Math, the percentage gain was
almost twice as high for Teach For India students over students in non-TFI classrooms:
English Gain
10.0%
Math Gain
25.0%
8.8%
8.0%
21.2%
20.0%
6.0%
4.1%
4.0%
Treatment
Control
15.0%
11.9%
10.0%
Control
5.0%
2.0%
0.0%
0.0%
Aggregate
Treatment
Aggregate
Teach For India’s Focus Areas for Student Vision
Teach For India believes that an excellent education is one that combines Academics, Values and
Mindsets, Access and Exposure. Examples below demonstrate how Teach For India Fellows incorporate
a right mix of these key pillars of student vision in every day teaching. Additionally, in the second year of
Fellowship, Fellows undertake a Be the Change Project (BTCP) project designed to identify and address a
barrier to learning which exists in the school or larger community. For example some Fellows have
created mathematics and science labs, developed an art-integrated curriculum, and have established
libraries and computer labs.
1. Academics
The Fellowship program is structured around the rigorous curriculum developed by Educational
Initiatives, in addition to teaching the SSC curriculum. Most students have skill-levels 2-4 years behind
their current grade level and Teach For India aims to bridge that gap primarily in Reading
Comprehension, Reading Fluency, Math, Grammar and Writing.
School Library Project
One example of Fellows working to raise the academic levels of their students is the School Library
Project. 17 Teach For India Schools in Mumbai decided to further enhance the educational experience
by building a library in each school. With the help of one of the Foundations, these libraries are being
created from scratch. Additionally, the Fellows in these schools are trained formally on areas such as
developing a vision for the library, execution of activities in the library, book selection and library
management. Such an addition in the schools offers much value in the long run by developing a reading
habit in students, and also allows easy access to a vast knowledge pool for the students.
2. Values and Mindsets
As Teach For India scales up, it is critically thinking about how to deepen its impact within the schools as
well as the student communities. Teach for India Fellows invest a lot of time to understand the students’
community and the ways in which their efforts in the classroom can be much more effective. The good
news is that a majority of the parents take a keen interest in understanding where their children stand
in the classroom and question the Fellows about the multiple ways in which they could be effective,
even though most of them have not had a formal education.
Maya Musical
Teach For India believes that an excellent education is a holistic one; we ensure that our curriculum puts
equal emphasis on arts and music. To that end, Teach For India has developed a project – the Maya
Musical.
The Maya Musical is a partnership between Teach For India students and artists on Broadway. The
Musical is an original script, with Broadway composed music, and tells the story of Princess Maya’s
journey. Tasked to bring light back into her Kingdom, Maya and her friends use the values of courage,
compassion and wisdom to lift three great curses that have been cast on the world. The musical is a
magical adventure of the South Indian dragoness Kutti, the talking peacock Indigo, the mystical spinning
Zara and the nine-headed snake Ska.
Maya, however, is much more than the promise of a spectacular show, to be released in November
2014. It is a demonstration of what’s possible for low-income children with no previous exposure to the
arts. It is a symbol of the kind of education all children deserve – one that integrates academics, values
and mindsets, and exposure and access.
3. Exposure and Access
Teach For India Fellows strive towards an overall development of their students that goes beyond just
academics. Through various workshops and events in their classrooms or schools, Fellows aim to build
enduring values in students, so that they can achieve academic success while being exposure to arts and
sports.
Live Sport - Just for Kicks
LiveSport is a project developed by Teach For India Fellows in Pune. LiveSport is a sports program
integrated with a curriculum that gives students in municipal and low-income private schools in India
access and exposure to organized sports as well as a platform to compete and develop holistically.
Field trips
Teach For India Fellows independently raise funds to sponsor field trips for their classrooms. Field trips
are a great way to bring excitement and adventure to learning. Teach For India Fellows plan focused
excursions to educational spaces such as the Nehru Planetarium, Fire stations, and museums. These
trips are the perfect vehicle to introduce new skills and concepts to students, and reinforce subjects
they have learned in their classrooms.
Model UN
Teach For India’s first Model United Nations was hosted in Mumbai recently with more than 250
students from 20 schools participating from across Mumbai and Pune. Model United Nations is a
simulation of the United Nations where students pose as delegates of a country and debate on pressing
issues that affect the world. Issues covered during the event included climate change, the refugee crisis
and other international security matters.
Organizational Growth and Impact
The Teach For India movement started in 2009 with 87 Fellows impacting over 2,500 students in Pune
and Mumbai.
Year
Cities
2009-2010
Mumbai and Pune
2010-2011
Schools
Fellows
Students Impacted
33
87
2,800
Mumbai and Pune
63
214
6,500
2011-2012
Mumbai, Pune and Delhi
122
374
12,000
2012-2013
Mumbai, Pune, Delhi, Hyderabad and
Chennai
164
506
16,000
2013-2014
Mumbai, Pune, Delhi, Hyderabad and
Chennai
214
713
23,000
2014-2015
Mumbai, Pune, Delhi, Hyderabad, Chennai
and Ahmedabad
268
887
30,000
In 2014-15, Teach For India projects its impact to span 6 cities (Mumbai, Pune, Delhi, Chennai,
Hyderabad and Ahmedabad), with a cohort strength of 887 Fellows, in 268 schools impacting 30,248
students.
In the next three years, Teach For India aims to impact approximately 60,000 students with its unique
methods and philosophy, and for its Alumni to become proof points across the sectors in society;
examples of excellence that will fundamentally change the idea of what is possible. By bridging the
achievement gap, Teach For India will bring to reality the vision that, “one day all children will attain an
excellent education”.
Budget of the Project:
2014-15
Number of Fellows
Supported
4
Number of Schools
Supported
2
Number of Students
Impacted
Amount in INR
140
14.1 Lakhs
Conclusion:
The opportunity of each child in India, and the future of the nation, rests on our collective ability to
provide quality education. To achieve this end, India requires a transformation – a change in the way we
recruit, train, support and compensate teachers and school principals, with every element of this
process designed to benefit the child. Teach For India Fellows are leading a movement to make this
change. Each year, a growing number of outstanding young people from across India are taking personal
responsibility for educational inequity, applying best practices in classroom teaching, leading projects to
engage their school communities, and developing invaluable leadership skills in the process. They are
building relationships in their schools and communities, and collaborating with corporates, nonprofits
and the government, and together they are impacting the lives of thousands of underprivileged children
and their families – and more every year. But great teachers alone cannot change the system. Teach For
India's impact extends far beyond the classroom, through our alumni – the social innovators who create
the tools of educational advancement, the CEOs who put country and conscience before bonus, and the
politicians whose guiding principles are compassion and results, not personal gain. Teach For India is
there to support their careers, every step of the way.
Your support will surely play a significant role to empower Teach For India in its pursuit to bring the
change in Indian education system in the near future. The support will also ensure that Teach For India
will be on the path to enriching the curriculum in all our classrooms with art, creating awareness about
what drives this movement, and ultimately in realizing our vision that one day every child will attain an
excellent education