Teach For India

Executive Summary:

Every child is born with the hope that god is not yet disappointed with man.

-Rabindranath Tagore

Social and cultural revolution has been possible only in a system where quality of educational opportunity is provided and education is deliberately used to develop more and more potential talent and to harness it to the solution of the national problem.

The 1986/92 education policy admits that education was at the crossroads and it needed to change the direction of where it was going. Neither normal expansion nor existing pace and nature of improvement can address the need of the situation. (Para 1.9).The Teach for India foundation is an initiative to alleviate this national ill of educational disparity by the Teach for India program.

This program would be a two year internship open to all Indian nationals who have had graduation level education. Apart from having an inclusive work culture involving NGO's, corporate and the government, building prestige and credibility around the program would thus be central to achieving its objective.

Teach for India is not meant to be a perfunctory exercise whose scope is limited to getting making people "literate". It is meant to involve the most talented youth in the country in an effort to usher in a wave of excellence in school education so that an entire generation is empowered to actualize its potential in the best possible way. But then, you have to be the best to attract the best. And this motto of excellence will be the driving force behind all its endeavors.

Case Analysis:

Scope of the project:

* Case Introduction

The dichotomy of Indian education has only deepened the divisive wedge which separates the have's from the have not's. Teach for India is an initiative to promote educational parity and in the process create thinking leaders. This movement has been successfully launched and implemented in the US and UK, but while implementing this program in India we must consider the peculiarities of the Indian education system, the social and economic realities.

* Issues at hand

In 2002 , the lower house of parliament ratified the 86th amendment in the constitution , adding article 21, giving all children ages 6 to 14 the right to free and compulsory education by the state. The amended law also placed an obligation on parents and guardians to provide educational opportunities to these children. But despite of policies and laws, the sad reality is that out of a primary school age population of approximately 203 million only 120 attends school.

In a situation of the type we have in India, it is the responsibility of the educational system to bring the different social classes and groups together and thus promote the emergence of an egalitarian and integrated society. Intra urban disparities are stark as far as the issue of the educational access is concerned. These children cannot make use of the alternative system of the education, which are in the form of private schools as there exists a 'social distance' between them and the other children.

The most relevant question in the provision of the education (early childhood, primary, upper primary and secondary) relates to overcoming supply side constraints.

Some of the problems pertaining to the first generation learners are:

* Gap between school and community becomes very large that translates into high dropout rate.

* Education does not lead to material gain on value addition.

* Poor schooling infrastructure

* Low motivation of teachers

* Disinterest in teachers has led to a declining faith of residents in the schooling system.

* Case Proposal

Teach India foundation would style itself as a coordinating agency and the focal point of action. It would actively work with the existing government initiatives to enhance their effectiveness. As specified earlier it would have three arms which would support its working. The NGO's would be responsible for imparting training, sensitization of issues, and placing recruits in schools. The donor agencies would be the primary source of generating funds for the operational and management purposes. The corporate houses would be the supporting bodies that would either provide logistic or administrative or recruit the volunteers into their organizations.

A governing body comprising of members from these three arms and would actively evaluate and direct the activities the foundation takes up.

Strategic Analysis:

* SWOT Analysis

Strengths:

* major strength lies in its all inclusive approach

* focus program is clearly based upon "quality"

* The corporate backing and support

* top quality human resources Weaknesses:

* diversity and the barrier of regional languages

* inadequate infrastructure

* two years being a long career break

Opportunities:

* expertise to initiate such development program with success

* reiterate the relevance and importance of this program today

* developing a talent pool of future corporate and community leaders

Threats:

* communication gap, in terms of language, infrastructure and coordination amongst participating bodies

* garnering the right support from public as well as the corporate houses to give this initiative the prestige and recognition

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1. Analysis

The peculiarity and diversity in the education