This story is from October 5, 2018

With a passion to mould future India, these millennial teachers are making a difference

With a passion to mould future India, these millennial teachers are making a difference
There was a time when we used to look at the hip, young, fun teachers in films and scoff disbelievingly, given that most teachers we’d met back in school were ageing, grey-haired, strict disciplinarians. ‘Teaching is a dying profession. Youngsters these days just aren’t interested in it...’ our lecturers would often tell us. But if the scene at campuses across the city is anything to go by, then we can safely conclude that times are changing.
young graduates are taking up teaching for the love of it, and admittedly, it’s the ‘most emotionally rewarding profession there ever could be’, they say. But what about poor pay scales, slow career growth, the proverbial glass ceiling...? Despite all the woes associated with the profession, what is it that attracts some of our 20-somethings to teaching when a career in the corporate world is what everyone else dreams of? Hyderabad Times spoke to a few young teachers to find out. And what they had to say not only bust myths about teaching but also left us with a renewed sense of hope that the future citizens of our country are in safe, able hands.
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‘TEACHING IS MY FIRST LOVE; NOT JUST A STOP-GAP OPTION’
When 27-year-old Kirti Rao, who teaches French at St. Francis College for Women in Begumpet, walks in to her classroom, her students immediately light up. Gentle, yet stern Kirti adeptly answers a volley of questions they send her way. “I love teaching. People often think that teaching is an easy back-up plan to kill time and make some money until you find another job. but that’s not the case with me. Believe it or not, teaching was always my first choice. In fact, I had to work really hard to find a teaching job that I like. Just like in any other profession, it’s not easy to get the right teaching job; you have to work really hard for it,” Kirti tells us, when we catch up with her during the break.
Before she landed her teaching job, Kirti used to tutor young kids in French, which she was always proficient in. “My mother suggested that I teach this one student for some pocket money. I decided to take it up, and soon from one student, my class grew to 14 students. I realised that I started enjoying myself a lot. Even though the syllabus is the same, the way each student perceives it is different, and therein lies the magic,” says Kriti, who has a doubles Master’s degree — Msc in Organic Chemistry and MA in French.

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‘TEACHING GIVES ME THE PERFECT WORK-LIFE BALANCE’
For many young graduates, teaching is a lucrative career choice since it gives them the chance to hone different skills and pursue other passions, while still holding what they call a ‘proper job’. For 22-year-old Sneha Kollaparthi, who teaches Mass Communication in Villa Marie College, teaching is a profession that offers the perfect work-life balance. “We have a winter break and a summer break and in that time, I can read, travel and explore other interests. Teaching is a challenging job, but it gives me this flexibility and allows me to pursue other passions,” she says.
Sneha, like many other young teachers, says she takes her experience as a student into her job as a teacher: “When I was a student, I realised that some of my teachers couldn’t make the subject interesting enough. I thought back then that whatever mistakes my teachers made, I’d correct those when I become
a teacher. I vow to make the subject interesting for my students every single day.”
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‘IT’S NOT A PAID VACATION; A LOT OF WORK GOES INTO IT’
While many envy teachers for having summer and winter holidays, and a comfortable 9-5 job, young teachers insist that a lot of hard work goes into it. “Unlike the common perception, teaching is actually very challenging. There’s a lot of preparation that goes into it, and we have multiple things that we have to do at once. Apart from handling the children, we also have to research every day to be perfect at our job,” explains Swetha.
Kirti adds, “I had earlier taught school children from grade 6 to 10. I found that extremely challenging because there you have to spoon feed the children, not just about academics but other things too. You have to monitor their behaviour and take care of them. While teaching UG or PG students, the challenges are different. You need to do a lot of research and the students keep you on your toes. Trust me, nothing about this job is easy.”
‘IT’S NOT JUST ABOUT MONEY, TEACHING IS PASSION-DRIVEN’
One of the biggest factors that stops people when it comes to taking up teaching is the fact that they don’t get paid high salaries, compared to their peers who pursue a career in finance or IT. Growth is slow and money doesn’t come easy. And yet, this hardly seems to be a detterent for Gen Z with a passion for teaching. For 22-year-old Sneha Kulukuru, who teaches grade 8 and 9 at Vijay Bharathi Model High School in Ram Nagar, the need to give back to the society is what inspired her to take up teaching. “Working in a low income school for the last year-and-a-half, I learnt of the potential that this country has, and realised it will be wasted if children don’t have the right exposure. As a youngster, I believe it is my responsibility to do my part in bridging that gap. This could mean that we may all have to make some sacrifices but, when I think of the big picture, it seems like it’s all worth it,” she says, philosophically.
The story of Rajasekhar Kavali, a 25-year-old from rural Telangana, is equally inspiring. After studying in a government school in Ranga Reddy district, he came to the city and decided to teach slum children dramatics. “I was always drawn towards drama as a child, but often, as a student, I realised that the standard of teaching in government schools wasn’t up to the mark. Though I topped in intermediate, when I came to the city, I realised that the teaching I received was way below standard. That’s when I decided to teach slum children and give them the education I missed out on,” says Rajasekhar, who teaches at Telangana Social Welfare Residential school in Chevella.
“As the only child, there was a lot of pressure on me to get a job to support my family and my parents were against me teaching because they felt I wouldn’t make enough money. But I was determined. And now, whenever I see young students learn and enjoy their education, I feel like the wealthiest man alive,” he adds.
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