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Four women on a mission to impart knowledge
Why don’t we go to the playground?” said Tasneem Dholkawala matter of factly. It is only after we reached the basement of the school building it dawns on us that the parking lot doubles up as the playground of New Madhu High School at Parsigutta. That is the challenge of teaching in under-resourced schools with students from underprivileged backgrounds that made all four t
Coming from different backgrounds, Tasneem Dholkawala, Neha Bhangdia, Anusha Vadlamani and Alekhya Gampa have taken up a two-year fellowship to teach children of low-income private schools in an effort to reach out to the underprivileged students under the Teach For India project
“Why don’t we go to the playground?” said Tasneem Dholkawala matter of factly. It is only after we reached the basement of the school building it dawns on us that the parking lot doubles up as the playground of New Madhu High School at Parsigutta. That is the challenge of teaching in under-resourced schools with students from underprivileged backgrounds that made all four take up the Teach For India (TFI) project which entails a two-year commitment to teach full-time in low-income private and government schools.
Each one has a story, Neha Bhangdia completed MBA by specialising in hospital management says, she did not find her job challenging and her heart lay in teaching so she took the plunge. As for Tasneem she resigned from her well-paying job at HSBC where she was assistant manager, operations. Anusha Vadlamani is an engineering graduate in Computer Science and Alekhya Gampa, was neck deep in environmental consulting with an NGO before taking up teaching. The most difficult part is to teach children with almost no resources.
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Leave alone teaching aids, they also generate funds to buy white boards. Tasneem paid the fee for five kids while Anusha and others chipped in to get white boards and other material. The wannabe teachers undergo a five-week residential training programme at Pune before they start teaching. Neha says, “Once we get to work there are periodic assessments and regular training sessions.” TFI is in seven cities in India and the selection is done after a strenuous screening process. Speaking about the challenges, Tasneem says, “What the kids need is love, affection and constant affirmation that they can do well.
We also take them out and expose them to cultural and literary activities. The last time we took them to Shilpakala Vedika it was a revelation. They enjoyed themselves and learnt a lot.” It may sound good to give it all up and commit oneself to teaching students from impoverished backgrounds but there is a lot of sacrifice warns Neha.
By:T P Venu
