Different Folks, Diff’rent Strokes: Teach for India and Teach for America

Teach for India (TFI) (http://www.teachforindia.org) is inspired by Teach for American (TFA) (http://www.teachforamerica.org). Both of them provide an opportunity for academically proficient young people to serve as teachers for two years in hard-to-staff schools in India and the U.S. respectively. However, I see two major differences between TFI and TFA.

First is the niche that the TFI Fellows/TFA corps members fill. India needs teachers; there is a desperate shortage of teachers for all grades, especially in low-end private schools and government schools. Teachers in the latter are notorious for their absences from school and being disengaged from students and classrooms. With TFI teachers in such schools, for those two years at least students will hopefully have a teacher who is present, perhaps cares, and may even provide cognitive input. There is no such shortage that TFA makes up for in the U.S. The hard-to-fill spots in the US are mainly in math and the sciences, and most of TFA corps members (12%) are not in these areas. However, they may work in inner-city schools, where teachers are always hard to get, though this is not true this year when qualified teachers have been a surplus. In fact, in these years of cutbacks, some school districts have let go qualified teachers and engaged TFA interns, which cuts the cost of staff and but clearly does not respect professionalism.
Secondly, education and schools in India need support and broad-based understanding from all sections of society. With such a high illiteracy rate (67%), it is important for society as a whole to support the cause of education. While respect for teachers and investment in education has waned in the U.S. in the past decade, advocacy for education as a cause far outstrips the level of dialogue and funding in India. The vaunted aim of TFI is that “In the long-run, Teach For India will build a powerful and ever-growing leadership force of alumni who, informed by their experiences and insights, will work from inside and outside the educational system to effect fundamental, long-term changes necessary to ultimately realize educational opportunity for all.” Building such a cadre of allies that TFI alumni present is essential in India. No so much in the U.S.
One of the major criticisms of TFA has been its lack of transparence. It has been sparing with its data, and selective about what it has released in its 20 years of existence. It is hoped that TFI will be more accessible and transparent so that its successes may be lauded (backed by hard data), its service more accountable to the public, and its struggles informed by better advice. In 2010, its second year, TFI placed 316 Fellows in 95 schools in 3 cities. I wonder how many of them have come back for their second year.
One aspect of TFI causes me concern: It is unfortunate that in describing Who We Are Looking For (http://www.teachforindia.org/who-we-are-looking-for.php), there is not one word about the qualities and soft skills that are essential for a good teacher, about how to relate to and how to value students they will be teaching. The two years TFI Fellows spend in the classrooms seem to be immaterial, unimportant, more like a training ground for leadership and less about reaching students in the classrooms. Perhaps in the interview, TFI will focus on teachers that students need rather than leaders who will forge ahead in their careers after their stint with TFI?