Student leaders and teachers bring CHANGE | Diary of Teach For India Fellow | My TFI Journey | Excellent Education to ALL children in INDIA

I love to teach little kids and then I like to observe the way they use their learning in real life. It makes me immensely gratified and joyful to see them apply the knowledge that I gave them. Earlier I used to work in a technology company, helping my clients to design new softwares but now I work closely with the school and community, designing lives and creating a lasting impact in direct and indirect ways. Working right on the ground level has humbled me and made me realize the vastness of the challenge of ed-inequity looming over our country. The challenge is hard and surely daunting but not impossible to overcome. My journey so far has been to overcome my own hidden fears, personal difficulties and hardships. It is essential to get sorted out yourself before trying to lift up others. I have managed pretty well to tame the ghosts inside of me and started to take the challenge head on. Despite being all upbeat and enthusiastic about facing the daunting task, my journey has been replete with lows, dark times and too many thorns literally. Thanks to the overwhelming motivation I receive from my children, there have been a few instances of sun shining out of dark clouds. These occasional flashes of light have given me hope and optimism to endure and keep going.

Sometimes, the going gets very tough, many days pass by without seeing any noticeable change in the students and I can't help but feel all down and defeated. There are times of despair in between when I am brimming with helplessness and disappointment and all I wish to do is to call it quits. In the times like these, what really keeps me going forward are the smiling faces of my kids and their deeply eloquent eyes full of wonder and magic. No matter after how many days but when my kids do show real passion to learn, persevere endlessly to reach that ideal response and try real hard to improve upon their values and mannerisms, I feel a small lamp burning bright inside of me. This lamp fuels and energizes me to endure and persevere harder for a fairer and a more equitable future for all our kids.
The background and class of a child must not be allowed to govern the quality of education that the child would receive. Every child has a right to an excellent education which is just, fair, free and equal in all terms. I try very hard each day to facilitate just this kind of education for my kids and that's where I am making a difference in the society. I may be a little drop in the ocean but I am convinced that I have a significant role to play in this nation-wide revolutionary movement against ed-inequity and that keeps me passionate and motivated all the time.

HOW Student Leaders Transform their community

Endurance is the key and one really important thing is to never give up or lose hope even in the most dire circumstances. It is necessary to remember here that change is hard at first, messy in the middle and gorgeous at the end and it's surely going to become much more beautiful in the very end.