TEACH FOR INDIA

Did you know? In India, 4% of all children never start school. The average 5th Standard student in a low income government school is not able to read a 2nd standard text. 48% of children drop out of school by 5th Standard. 76% of students do not make it to college. Teach For India is a non profit organization that aims to bridge the academic achievement gap in India through the Fellowship Program. Through this program, we place the most outstanding college graduates and working professionals as teachers in low income government and private schools across 7 cities in India. Teach For India believes that it will take a movement of leaders with the idealism, belief, skills and commitment to actualize the vision that one day, all children will attain an excellent education. At Teach For India, we're launching our eighth year of the Fellowship this month. In 2016, our 1250 Fellows will be serving close to 45,000 low-income children across India, while our 1500 Alums are serving thousands more in leadership positions throughout the educational system. And, literally, just a few weeks ago, our newest batch of 650 Fellows - having been selected from close to 15,000 applications - walked into our doors for the very first time, ready toteach in classrooms across the country. I'm writing today to announce and commemorate the launch of our 2017 Fellowship Recruitment Cycle. In July, we began the ambitious and challenging task of searching for and identifying our next cohort of more than 710 Fellows, who will join us next May to impact thousands of more children in the years to come.

What impact does a Fellow create? Our Fellows work in challenging, low income communities where students are several years behind academically. Fellows are responsible for bridging the academic achievement gap in their students. They instill values and mindsets in their class, such as team work and social conscientiousness. Fellows also provide access and exposure to students to issues and happenings beyond the classroom. In the 2nd year of the program, each Fellow undertakes an assignment called the 'Be The Change' project wherein they ideate, plan and execute a project that benefits their classroom, the school or the society as a whole.

"Along with TFI, I helped start/co-founded a women-run small social enterprise in the food and beverage sector in Bombay. This was done to provide stable income sources by the women in the family as most of my kids came from 1st generation school going families with the male members of the family earning daily wage incomes from odd jobs. This additional income by the women usually goes into education/health/sanitation which improves the living standards of the family. Also, I believed that going to college was not possible for these kids if there was no additional income in the families and primary education by itself is not going to solve the problems arising from poverty. To create any long term impact I had to intervene both inside and outside the classroom. The success of this startup was instrumental in making me believe that social enterprises which improve living conditions at home are the way to go along with excellent education in the classroom. I applied to business school and graduated from MIT with the goal of setting-up a similar social enterprise in the long run." Prasun Bhowmik, 2011 Fellow

What happens after the two years? Throughout the Program, your Program Manager will help you to identify where your interests lie and what your strengths are professionally. Be it political, entrepreneurial, artistic - we try to get our Fellows as much exposure to different schools of thought as possible so that they are able to develop and cultivate their interest accordingly. At the end of your two years, there will be External/Internal Career Placement Drives with vacancies in over 200 companies – from sectors such as education, policy research, to investment banking. Our Fellows have also gone to study at a post graduation level to colleges such as ISB, IIM B, Oxford, MIT Sloan School of Management, and Harvard. "During my two years at Teach for India, I came across lot of social enterprises that are working to create positive impact in the lives of people at bottom of the pyramid. After my fellowship, I applied for MBA at Said Business School, University of Oxford primarily because of its association with Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship that helped me develop skills to contribute in the sector. While the fellowship exposed me to the challenges faced by people from low-income communities, it also gave me insights about the product/services that will help improve their lives and make business sense at the same time. This learning helps me a lot while evaluating various business models at my current job." Sudhanshu Malani, 2011 Fellow How can I apply? The Fellowship Program is open to all final year students and working professionals. The application form is available at apply.teachforindia.org ( http://apply.teachforindia.org/) You must fill out the online application form, and take a subsequent aptitude test to apply forthe Program. The First Deadline for applications is at 10 PM on 30th August, 2016.  You can also access the FAQ sheet  (https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwY79yuQYgtdMnlnZ2VPRXVYc1B3Q2dSVUlHbjAweFduaXgw/view)   about the Fellowship Program for your further perusal. Looking forward to your application! Please reach out to me if you have doubts. Priya Dugar: priya.dugar@teachforindia.org Deadlines: August 30, 2016  /  October 25, 2016  / December 13  / February 7, 2017