Our Founder & CEO, Shaheen Mistri and Sandeep Rai, Chief of City Operations, Teach For India, shared their hope for India’s children on our 74th Independence Day.

Arunima Tandon recorded herself and put the videos up on YouTube to help her Students with Asynchronous learning.

A School-Site Team Meeting (STM) takes place every Friday at Institute and is a time for Fellows to connect, celebrate and take stock of their goals. This was Ahmedabad’s STM.

Priyanshi took a special class where Students shared their thoughts on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on essential workers. The session then turned into celebrating essential workers and even saw many Students thank their Fellows.

One of the biggest challenges that we and other educators are facing right now while we try to keep learning going, is the digital divide. We leveraged the extent of our online community to ideate, share and discuss solutions that can be implemented to solve this problem through a Twitter Chat. The topic was, ‘India’s Digital Divide: The Way Forward’ and took place on the 12th of August from 3 pm - 4 pm (IST). This chat was in collaboration with Firki, Teach For India’s online teacher training portal, who co-hosted with us. Insights, ideas and solutions that surfaced from the Twitter Chat can be read here.

Recently, Teach For India launched a Leaders of Tomorrow Speaker Series - a collection of interactive and immersive webinars on the future of India and the role that our young college graduates and professionals can play in shaping it. The first webinar - ‘Are you ready to be The Leadership India Needs?’ - took place on the 30th of July and had Abhiraj Singh, Co-Founder, Urban Company, Tarun Cherukuri, Co-Founder & CEO, Indus Action, Jigyasa Labroo, Co-Founder & CEO, Slam Out Loud and Ramesh Srinivasan, Senior Partner, McKinsey & Company & Trustee, Teach For India in conversation with Aakanksha Gulati, Chief Program Officer, Teach For India.

Some themes that emerged during the webinar were that leadership doesn’t exist in a vacuum, isolated from the socio-economic and educational infrastructure of a country. It is a function of a country’s GDP and wealth creation capacity, the governmental reforms that go into building said capacity and an atmosphere that supports, empowers and nurtures the country’s human capital into becoming leaders themselves. It is an interplay between various factors like the economy, values, education, social equity and entrepreneurship.

Here are a few more glimpses of virtual classes conducted by our 2020 Fellows!

Our 2020 Fellows recently started teaching virtually as part of their training at Institute. Here are a few inspiring classes that took place!

Bhagyashree took a history class with coins as the subject. We love how the questions were framed keeping key points in mind!

Program Manager, Shan, had a full inbox with emails teeming with gratitude and appreciation after aweek of Institute! Way to go, Shan!So grateful for you.

Anita made up for the lack of a physical Graphic Organizer (GO) by asking her kids questions, recording their responses and then filling out their virtual GO to give her kids’ ideas and thoughts visibility. Her Students were so excited to see their answers up on a sheet and were more motivated and engaged than usual!

Great going, Anita!

Lovely to see parents and siblings also attend the virtual classes at Institute. Community learning is the best kind of learning!

Nemat Shaikh, a Teach For India Student Alumnus wrote an article summarising the NEP while succinctly stating its pros and cons. You can read the article here.

Students from Riverside School in Ahmedabad are going to be working closely with Fellows in the city to help them through any challenges they might be facing in this pandemic. In the last two years, with the support of our Alumni, they’ve helped Teach For India Students learn to code and even helped set up a library in one of our schools.

Thank you so much, kids! So grateful for all that you have done for our community.

Abhik Bhattacherji, Director, Marketing and Communications, Teach For India was joined for a conversation with 6 of our Students and Student Alumni - Rutuja, Ravi, Huda, Sneha, Rehan and Mrunali on the topic, ‘Leadership & Impact - A Student’s Perspective’ as part of our on-going ‘Leaders For Tomorrow’ webinar series. Our Students shared their experiences of life and learning in a pandemic, voiced their opinions on what leadership looks like and put forward their ideas on what constitutes a good teacher. It was a riveting hour where all those who attended, left with a deep understanding of educational in-equity and the need for leaders in our classrooms.

The N. Godrej Foundation for Education, are continuing their efforts to make sure that kids have access to quality Foundational Literacy and Numeracy learning, during these times. In the process, they have developed video content for their schools that are a part of their program but would like to share that content with all of you. 150+ videos have been created and can be accessed here- English and Math. More content will be added in the coming weeks & months. If you are using the content and have any feedback, insights or questions, please feel free to contact Annie Sidotam on annie.sidotam@godrejinds.com

A Student in Bhagyashree’s virtual class was unable to join through Zoom. Adamant that the Student should not lose out on instructional time, Bhagyashree called her Student on Whatsapp and through the video option showed her, her screen on Zoom while she taught the class.

Shyamala led Sweekruthi’s Learning Circle (LC) as part of training at Institute. They worked on the planning and method of execution together. Shyamala included personal stories while she conducted the LC as she thought all those in attendance could learn something from her personal experiences and use what they learnt for themselves in future. The LC was a huge hit and everyone was incredibly proud of Shyamala and Sweekruthi for what they pulled off.

To celebrate a decade of our journey, we went back to the start. We spoke to 6 of our Students who’ve been with us from the beginning- who were part of our first batch of Students in 2009, on their achievements, their realities and the impact that Teach For India has had on them. Our conversation with them reminded us of why we do what we do. It reminded us why we must keep going. And that we must do everything in our power to end in-equity in education so that one day all children will attain an excellent education.

Do you want to see a better India? A more inclusive India? Are you desperate for things to change? To be different? You can make a difference. Apply to the Teach For India Fellowship and discover the leader within.

Ravi Kiran Kafiya Kausen Huda Sultana Venkat Sai B.Anil

96%

100%

“I want all of us to practice the value of adaptability without los-ing ourselves. In history, we are studying how the ideas our fore-fathers gave us have changed. A solution from 10 years ago won’t really work now, we need new solutions. Especially in today’s world, adaptability is key.”

- Mrunali

“I’ve started a project called 22nd Intelligence which is a YouTube channel where I upload educa-tional videos for children to help them grasp concepts and ideas.”

- Ravi

“I don’t want to grow up and become someone who doesn’t question things, who follows and believes whatever they hear, blindly.”

- Huda

“Leadership can mean differ-ent things for different people. For me, personally, leadership means growth. When I look back on my journey and see where I’ve reached, that is the journey of leadership within myself.”

- Rutuja

“I would like to be the kind of person who supports everyone and encourages people to do things.”

- Rehan

“A message I would like to give to the applicants of the Teach For India Fellowship is feel free to ask for help. There might be times when you feel like you can’t man-age something or that things are complicated but always ask for help because the smallest things can have an impact and transform misery into joy.”

- Sneha

Reflections from our Students-

We are awestruck by the agility with which our community has responded to the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns. Stories of kindness, courage and selflessness are still pouring in. These stories

have brought much cheer to our week. We hope they do the same for you.

For a recap of our eighth edition, click here.

Send us #SomeGoodNews at communication@teachforindia.org

Wear a mask Stay at home Use a sanitizer Follow a routine Reach out to friends and family

Share #SomeGoodNews

Haqdarshak, a startup that focuses on the delivery of government financial schemes, helmed by Teach For India Alumnus, Aniket Deogarh has raised pre-Series A funding. Acumen India country director Mahesh Yagnaraman said, “We are excited that Haqdarshak with its technology platform and outreach is trying to bridge the gap between intended benefits in schemes and actual delivery to the poor. We feel these platforms are the need of the hour to ensure people do not slip back into poverty”.

Read the full article here. To remain updated on their work, follow them on Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin and Twitter.

Spaces International, Co-Founded by Teach For India Alumna, Dorcas Harris is an initiative with a vision to empower individuals and organisations to engage with social inclusion in a meaningful way. They endeavour to create spaces where people from all walks of life can listen, learn and engage in tackling barriers to social inclusion. Their approach is multi-faceted and currently anchored around three core themes of Safe Spaces, Transformed Spaces and Open Spaces. Launched a month ago, we would love it if you could show the team some love and visit their website.

For more information, follow Spaces International on Facebook and Instagram.

So proud of our Alumni, Nisha Subramaniam and Siddharth Gowtham whose organisation Kanavu got a shoutout from Priyanka Chopra! Kanavu means dreams, a fitting name since they leverage the power of the collective, by working with a cluster of schools in disadvantaged communities in rural Tamil Nadu, to transform learning outcomes of students and help them realize their dreams.

Way to go, guys! So proud! For more updates on Kanavu’s work, follow them on Instagram.

Kutuki was selected as one of the finalists of the ‘App Innovation Challenge’ conducted by the Indian government. The list of finalists featured prominent names in the Indian Startup and Business landscape and Kutuki was selected as one of the 3 finalists out of nearly 1100 apps in the e-learning category.

Such incredible work! We are especially happy because Early Learning is finally getting the focus it deserves.

Pi Jam Foundation hosted a series of webinar conferences with the objective of inspiring and demystifying tech for young girls. The first edition held on the 11th of July received a massive response and was joined by more than 250+ participants who came together to hear and share stories of change. The second edition took place on the 8th of August and received an overwhelming response yet again!

Well done, team! So proud of the work you’re doing.

To know of more cool things that they’re upto, follow Pi Jam Foundation on Facebook, Instagram and Linkedin.

Teach For India Alumni, Madhukar Banuri and Siddesh Sarma co-wrote an article on the NEP, summarizing what it stands for, the hits and misses. Read the full article here.

The Claylab Education Foundation led by Vivek Kaushik and Purva provides a support structure for our Student Alumni by conducting free classes for Students in the 11th and 12th Grade. The classes cover the syllabus for the final two years in school and focus on the Students’ holistic development by teaching them 21st-century skills.

If you would like your Students to be a part of Claylab Education Foundation, please click here. Fellows who are interested in working on this opportunity as their BTCP can click here.

For more information, follow the Claylab Education Foundation on Facebook, Instagram and Linkedin.

OUR ALUMNI- ALWAYS THE TRAILBLAZERS!

LEARNING NEVER STOPS!

For a recap of our eighth edition, click here.

Follow us on for updates, stories, and inspiration.

Send us stories of inspiration, acts of kindness and courage, campaigns and regional resources on communication@teachforindia.org and we’ll share them on our digital media platforms and in the next edition of #SomeGoodNews.

STUDENT LEADERSHIP AT ITS BEST!

The Wellbeing Lab led by Kapil Dawda and his team is a participant-led initiative to enable individuals to explore the wellbeing of youth and children through doing, and to realize and apply its principles in the context of their own personal or professional circles. The team organised an introductory webinar where participants deep-dived into what really constitutes the well-being of children.

For more information on similar events, visit their website or follow them on Instagram.

The good folks over at CounSEL understand how challenging teaching can be especially in these current times and so organised a virtual interactive sharing space called ‘Baithak’ where educators connected with like minded teachers from different schools, shared challenges and brainstormed solutions to address these challenges.

For updates, follow CounSEL on Facebook, Instagram and Linkedin.

Big congratulations to iTeach Schools’ students who performed so well in their class X and XII Board Exams. We are so proud of you and know there is nothing you can’t achieve.

For more information on their work, follow them on Facebook, Instagram and Linkedin.

Our friends over at Global Shapers Community - Bangalore, Delhi and Jaipur are back with ‘The Happy Newsletter 2.0’ The theme for this edition is - Baby Steps to Gardening’ and can be accessed here.

The Femme First Foundation, a non-partisan, non-profit organisation committed to amplifying women leaders in Indian politics has designed a Gendered Leadership Course that will be facilitated online. It will educate, inform, and inspire its audience on gender patterns in society and leadership, and engage in productive discourse. Through the process of engaging with content that builds on existing knowledge, challenges biases, and beliefs while giving a deeper self-awareness to the participants, the course will enshrine a deep sense of possibility for the participants. Beginning on the 22nd of August till the 30th of September, we are happy to see and know that subjects of such importance and relevance are being studied.

For more information on their work, follow them on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

The Mind Room, created by Anju Joseph, Shraddha Ghadi, Sajida Munaf, Sumona Shetty, Dipti Balwani and Romana Shaikh with the support of Elgiva Kharsati and Pooja Pawar from the Mumbai Alumni Impact team, is organising workshops and holding space to foster mental health support for members of our community.

So happy to announce that Teach For India Alumna, Pooja Agarwal has scaled her BTCP from her Fellowship to a registered NGO - Aikaarth, which provides arts education to children in low-budget schools in Hyderabad.

Congratulations, Pooja! Way to go! So proud of you!

The heart, strength and soul displayed by our friends over at Khel Khel Mein (KKM) has been phenomenal. In the last few months, they have served members of their communities and provided 3000+ kgs of dry ration, supported 70+ families, conducted 4000+ hours of digital learning and initiated a hygiene and sanitation drive.

To remain updated on their work, follow them on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

The eleventh edition of ‘Seekho Aur Sikhao’, an endeavour to bring the Alumni community together to learn from each other had Vishnu and Joel share ways in which one can incorporate fitness in one’s routine, devise strategies for workouts and learn how a coach can help one achieve their fitness goals. A TFI 16er from Pune, Vishnu’s passion for health, fitness and sports became a career goal when he started training and managing his school football team during his Fellowship. Now working with CoolCoach, he works to bring health, fitness and sports training to children.

To remain updated on their work, follow them on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.

Lantern Edusports Foundation & Kalakriti collaborated and put together, ‘Junoon’, a debate competition for middle school students, where students from 30+ schools across 7 cities in India took part. Lovely to see events like these being organised that push our students to be the best versions of themselves.

For information on their work, follow Lantern Edusports Foundation on Facebook.

Beyond Boundaries, a project started by Teach For India Fellow, Sakshi in Delhi, aims at building global citizenship and collaborative action. With the belief that young people have the power to solve the most pressing problems the world is facing today, they have launched the ‘Global Peacebuilding Fellowship’, a three-month-long leadership development program with a shared vision of global peace and collaboration. After the end of the program, each student/Fellow who has taken part will be recognized as a peace-builder. The Fellowship will provide young students and Fellow mentors with the opportunity to work on high-impact projects and become peer allies to other young people around the world and help them kick start their change-making journeys. They will also be able to engage with leading social-entrepreneurs, peacebuilders, and thought leaders and co- facilitate SDG sessions in their schools and communities.

This is such a great initiative, Sakshi! Well done!

Project ‘Drishtata’ led by Hiranya and Rupal in National Children’s Academy in Pune was created with the singular aim of showing Students that there can be a life-changing path. The project aims to build a community of leaders who are unfettered by challenges and commit to their dreams. From turning their classrooms from dull, dark spaces to beautifully painted sunlit rooms, Hiranya and Rupal have been able to teach their kids that amazing things are possible if only you believe.

So wonderful to see this Hiranya and Rupal!

To familiarize the 2020 Cohort with the vision, mission and idea of ‘Halla Bol’ - an inter-school debate competition aimed to amplify Student voice for Teach For India intervened schools in Hyderabad, Amrita and Uday conducted a session where they spoke about what Halla Bol, in its 5th edition, meant to them as a team. They took the new Fellows through the impact of the initiative and outlined the various roles team members had taken up which had changed the course of the way this event is organised in the city. They plan on conducting a more detailed session once Fellows are in the city but based on the response they got, are confident that Halla Bol will reach new heights in its next edition.

Amazing job, Amrita and Uday. So proud of all that you have done in the past year.

“When COVID-19 began to spread throughout India, Teach For India Fellows faced significant challenges when it came to connecting with Students at home. Hear from Anissha Aggarwal, a Fellow with Teach For India, about the benefits of using Zoom to deliver distance education to students with limited resources, and how she was able to positively impact the lives of her Students during the pandemic.”

Zoom spoke with Anissha on her experience of using the program and how it has enabled her to continue her children’s learning. Read the full article here.

Thank you for all that you’ve done and all that you continue to do, Anissha!

In Mumbai, Aditya Krishnan organised a special virtual session for his Students with rapper, DeeMC, who spoke to them over the course of an hour. Having been introduced to her work by Aditya, his kids were extremely excited and enjoyed the session thoroughly.

What a wonderful thing to do for your Students, Aditya! Your kids are lucky to have you.

The academic year 2019-20 was a memorable one with our second batch of 955 Teach For India Students in Delhi taking the CBSE 10th Grade Board Examinations. Here is a snapshot of the wonderful results of our kids.

Congratulations, everyone! We are so proud of you!

So very happy to announce that the overall pass percentage of our 10th Grade Students in Mumbai is 96%. Big big congratulations to all our Students! So proud of all of you.

In Chennai, 100% of our Students have passed the 10th Grade according tothe Government mandate since students did not appear for all the exams.

* We don’t have data from all Teach For India classrooms. These numbers are from the data that is currently available to us.

Big congratulations to all the Students in Pune who passed their Tenth Grade Board Exams with flying colours. 321 Students from Teach For India classrooms in Pune took the SSC examinations. 313 Students passed- with a pass percentage of 97.5%. 95 Students secured a distinction (75% and above).

We are so proud of each and every one of you! Well done!

Ravi, Huda, Venkat, Kafiya and B. Anil in Hyderabad are part of a very special initiative called ‘Fellows of the Future Track’ (FOTF). The FOTF track aims at equipping Students with skills and mindsets that will enable them to be strong teachers, leaders and changemakers in the future. A highly selective track by nature, this opportunity allowed these young leaders to be a part of Institute this year as Student Interns. They learnt how to lesson plan, think critically, give constructive feedback and use tech tools to make their work more efficient.

Additionally, in Hyderabad, 100% of the students have passed the 10th Grade according to the Government mandate since students did not appear for all the exams.

Teach For India Students in Chennai have set up their own YouTube channels where they put up videos on topics and lessons for their peers to learn from.

So wonderful to see such collaboration amongst our kids! Excellent work, everyone! These channels can be accessed here - Learn Every Day by Ebin Xavier, Arun Ilamaran, MK Bytes by Muthukkarupan and Mani Updates.

Haya, a Grade 8 Student in Ahmedabad secured a prize for an essay that she submitted to an essay writing competition. Congratulations, dear Haya! Very well done!

To keep learning going for her Students who don’t have smartphones, Swathi in Bangalore has been taking classes via conference calls. She sends her kids a group SMS in the morning and calls them half an hour before the class starts asking them to find a nice quiet place for the class and to have a book, stationery and a bottle of water ready before the class. On the calls they practise Reading Fluency, Reading Comprehension and Writing.

Great work, Swathi!

On the 7th of August, KER observed ‘KER Day’ with an array of transformational stories, impactful performances and an inspiring Student-educator panel. A total of about 5500 people experienced this day virtually, while the message for KER Day reached about 25000 kids and educators. The day was spread across three platforms, focusing on each of the KER Principles. The KER Masterclass which was LIVE on Facebook sparked a conversation about changemaking, KER Chronicles on Instagram Live showed the power of Student voice, and the Grey Sunshine Panel left audiences with the hope and promise that Student-educator partnerships hold.

At the end of each of these spaces, KER revealed a big surprise to all our kids and educators - the brand new KER website! The website aims to spread powerful stories and impactful projects that have inspired thousands of our kids and educators. These resources are centered around KER’s 3 Principles and 8 Cs that reimagine our education system. This is an interactive platform for kids and educators to learn from projects that have had tremendous impact and also for them to share their own experiences.

Folks, do visit the new KER website and show the KER Team some love!

Firki, Teach For India’s online teacher training portal organised a webinar with Ronnie Screwvala, Co-Founder & Chairman, upGrad, as part of the Leadership Forum at Institute. The dynamic first generation entrepreneur shared his personal journey of becoming a successful entrepreneur from a series of failures. He talked, in detail, about the role of technology in the education sector, his vision for a post-COVID world both for teaching and learning and ended with a special message for our 2020 cohort, which was to take risks, increase the aspirational level, do whatever you do from the heart and keep learning.

TFIx is Teach For India’s year long incubation program for passionate entrepreneurs who want to adopt Teach For India’s Fellowship model.

You can hear their graduating Entrepreneurs share their inspiring journeys of building movements of leaders in their regions. Click here to access the playlist.

8 contexts! 8 ways to bring the best education to their children! 8 stories of personal trials and tribulations to do what they do! From Rajasthan to Manipur & Assam. From Kashmir to Mumbai. From Bhopal to the streets of Delhi.

Click on the pictures

Here are some glimpses from the KER’s new website. Click on the images below.

WE HAVE YOU COVERED!Our team has collated a list of resources - government helpline numbers, shelters, donation drives, contacts of on-ground people, contact details for therapists as well as information on testing and delivery. These resources

are both city specific and state specific. We hope that this will provide some relief and support to those within and outside our network.

MORE THAN TEACHERS IN THIS LOCKDOWN!

HAPPENINGS ATINSTITUTE!

Here are a few suggestions on things you can do in this lockdown. We hope this will be of some help during these times.

A glimpse into what Firki has organised, conducted and executed over the past few weeks!