Bikkrama Daulet Singh describes his experience as a fellow for Teach for India.
After spending six years in a corporate career in management consulting, I knew I had to step out and take a risk to counter the fatigue that was mounting in my job. I decided to apply for a fellowship with Teach for India. While the fellowship was meant to be a sabbatical from my corporate job rather than a stepping stone into the education space, it helped transform my career trajectory in an exciting and meaningful way.
My experience at Teach For India was absolutely fantastic. I was placed in a government municipal school in Delhi where I taught grades two and three over the two years. I can say with confidence that it was the most challenging and enriching work I have done in my life. During the course of my fellowship, I was able to interact and work with an extremely diverse and entrepreneurial group of co-fellows. I believe that I was exposed to a richer diversity of views at Teach For India than during my time at LSE and INSEAD.
My greatest takeaway from the fellowship was to develop the courage to take on new challenges in my career. My exposure to India’s government school system on the ground and to leading thinkers in the education sector left me in no doubt that the challenge of providing quality education needs to be addressed through a wide range of interventions. This led to my decision to join Central Square Foundation after my fellowship to work on improving education quality at a systemic level.
Bikkrama Daulet Singh is Associate Director at Central Square Foundation and graduated from LSE in 2004 with a bachelor’s degree in Economics.
Teach for India is located in Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad and Chennai. This year, it is also expanding to Ahmedabad. Applicants can select which city they would prefer to be placed in. Click here for more details on the movement. This year’s fellowship deadline is 5 February 2014.