Teach for India
Leadership
Development Journey
Divya is one of India's 320 million children.
She was born in the Vaiduwadi community, in Pune. She grew up in poverty.
Her father was a security guard - and struggled with alcoholism. She grew up watching her mother being ill-treated by people around her. Her ____ member family lived in a ____ square ft house and struggled to make ends meet.
School was no escape. In a system that was broken, teachers who had come in with big dreams and beautiful intentions, but lacked appropriate training struggled in the classroom. Without adequate training, they struggled to create a safe environment in the classroom and often resorted to severe corporal punishment to manage the 60 - 100 children in their classrooms. Weighed under the task of completing heaps of administration work, they rarely had the time or skills to plan interesting lessons.
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As is true for millions of children in our system, Divya, began to slip.
By grade 3, only 27% of children in India are at grade level in reading and basic mathematics.
In 2019, 150,000 crimes against children were recorded under the POCSO Act, a 19% rise since 2018.
Despite enrolling in school, 45% of children don't make it to Grade 11
And only 26% go on to college
That didn't happen to Divya.
She escaped the reality that most of her friends would face. Back in grade 3, when learning gaps were widening, Divya transferred to KC Thackeray School.
In grade 5, she met her first Teach for India Fellow, Dhiren.
Suddenly, newspapers opened her mind to the world. Learning was more than textbooks.
It was here that Divya realised that her childhood experiences of violence, humiliation, abuse, and being ignored were wrong.
Dhiren listened to Divya. He tried to understand what was going wrong.
Divya's relay of learning continued.
Her drama teacher, Ratan, introduced her to acting.
Her school principal, Shalini, showered her with love and warmth.
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