The thing that I love about iTeach, apart from the students of course, is that I get to learn so much and try new things.
iTeach’s core is educating students when RTE cannot support them (i.e. Grades 8-10). This is managed professionally by full-time teachers.
I volunteer with iTeach as a mentor to the older students who are now in Grades 11 and 12th (iTeach alumni, in what we call the CPLP program). This program is run by Tanvi, an amazing, enthusiastic teacher with iTeach. This program supports students in dreaming beyond what they or their families themselves thought was possible - from financially supporting admission to junior colleges, to extra coaching and summer programs.
The final (for now) leg of this support is admission to colleges. After a successful pilot last year, iTeach launched a full-scale program in 2021 to help students secure admission to the best colleges.
Before I go ahead describing what we did. I’d like to remind us of the context in which this support is needed. These are students from low-income background. They are often children of watchmen, maids and auto drivers (as you’ll see in the stories below). Just to get them to graduate from junior college has often been a challenge for their families. Far from being able to afford fees for a degree, the students are now expected to start earning and helping out. Most of them have never stepped out of Pune and living in a hostel in a different city is an alien choice (watch 45sec of Prajakta’s story in the video below). They do not have professional role models like most of us do (think about your parents’ friends, neighbours, uncle etc that you might have admired).
While they are certainly built to fly, their wings are clipped due to their circumstances.
iTeach found out the top (liberal arts) colleges in India like Ashoka and Azim Premji University that offer need-based scholarships and had sessions with the students telling them what these colleges are about. The admissions to these colleges were a combination of entrance exams, essays and interviews. Mentors like me were assigned a group of students with whom we worked to develop their stories and essays that I’ll be sharing below.
In addition I alone ran a month-long crash course for the mathematics section of the entrance exam getting arts and commerce students reacquainted with the basics.
I evaluated a total of 20 essays for 5 students. Some of them really moved me. I had taught many students for many months before this, but this was the first time I got to know them personally. It has made me appreciate the opportunities I have had and even changed my worldview a bit. Sharing a select few of these essays (anonymised of course) here:
In my dad’s shoes…
The past few months have been hard on all of us, but particularly for those from the economically weaker sections of society. Unfortunately, my family is one of them. My father works as a watchman to provide for all of us. And as the entire country went into a strict lockdown, especially Pune, his salary was reduced by his employer. We did not have savings to fall back upon, and the situation at our home was very difficult this summer.
I really wanted to help and started looking for jobs and initially wanted to work as a delivery boy. But since I did not have a bike, I had to keep looking. The only other place where I could find employment was in a small security services company which was essentially the job of a watchman. My father was strictly against this. He said, “I’ve not raised you and put you through so much schooling and junior college for you to have to fall back to the same job as me”. But even he knew that we needed help, and after I convinced and promised him that this would only be temporary, he relented.
I was working the night shift from 8pm to 8am during which I had to keep walking around the society. The very first day, as soon as I hit the bed, I realised how tiring this is. And the fact that my father has been doing this for us for the last 2 decades made me immensely grateful for my family. It’s not easy to take care of your loved ones. I worked as a watchman for 3 months until my dad was able to get back to work full-fledged, and now I am back to my studies. Since then I have made a pact with myself, I am going to see my education through and come what may, I will take away this hardship and give my parents the life they deserve, making their sacrifices worthwhile.
Apna time aayega
As a student from a government school, my knowledge about the world of work was limited. I used to do well in the bubble of my school, but education beyond a point was alien to us. Everyone in our community, including my own family would say, “just pass 10th” as that is the minimum requirement for getting a local job. It’s not that they were not supportive or did not believe in me, but rather that their aspirations were also limited because of their upbringing and opportunities.
The turning point of my life was when me and my friend moved from our government school to a junior college with diverse students from privileged backgrounds. They spoke fluent English, came from fancy boards like IGCSE and CBSE, wore good clothes, were dropped and picked up by cars. These students would not consider us as friends since we could not speak fluent English, didn’t dress the same way, and thought we did not know anything. I remember ___ could not even afford shoes and would have to come in slippers every day. While we would study in a one-room house with our family, our classmates had air-conditioned rooms of their own.
In the first week of junior college, there was a scholarship exam held to get into the premier batch for Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) preparation. __ placed 2nd and I placed 5th. We both received a 100% scholarship for the coaching which actually cost 3 lakh rupees. We did not speak polished English, nor were we rich, but we were on the same table with those who were from the city’s best schools. Now, these students would ask ‘us’ doubts in chemistry, maths and physics.
This showed me that it is not our circumstances that decide our fate. It is our belief in ourselves and our actions that do. Circumstances like my community and my school need not limit my dreams. All that mattered was that a kid from a government school dreamt to succeed, and had the will to work and make his life and community better. I realised that students like me can not just dream big but do big.
No more school?
When I was in sixth grade, I had to choose between living with my parents in the village or apart from them in a city and continue my studies. I chose the latter and that’s the very reason I’m able to even write this essay and aspire to join such a prestigious college.
I could easily have gotten distracted and not bothered about academics. If I had chosen to stay back, I’d have started working in the farms like my friends and would have never known my capabilities.
My parents are equally important in leading me here. They had faith in me and gave me the choice. It would have been difficult for them as well, but they chose to educate me. Now I am an educated 19-year-old, the first one from my family to reach class 12 and even dare to dream of graduation.
Football and tragedy
I am __. My family migrated to Pune from __ in search of employment. I enrolled into a government school in Yerwada and fortunately met amazing teachers from TeachForIndia who made me realize my passion for playing football. When I was in fourth standard, I tasted my first real victory. For the first time in my life I played in a tournament. Not just any tournament, the one started by us, the JustForKicks (JFK) tournaments. It was a Design For Change project that my class started and eventually it spread to six cities across India. While we would practice, __ Bhiaya would inspire us with stories of great players like Messi, Ronaldo, Pele, Maradona and many more.the way we practiced, I was confident about winning this tournament, but we lost in the semi-finals. I cried my heart out and just couldn’t believe that we lost the match.
After the match I remember ___ Bhiaya telling us that “You cannot become a player in one day and your team cannot become champions in one tournament. Everyone who has been successful has failed many times in life. Messi started playing football at the age of five. He touches the ball a thousand times in a day, and only then he has become what he is today. It takes thousands of hours of practice to get perfect in something. It’s not easy, but it is possible. With hardwork and determination you will win one day. Our life is also the same. You will never get success in a day or a year. You need to consistently practice and keep growing”.
that day I decided, I will work harder. I went to practice the next day. We practiced day and night, and took care of our health. This was not easy. There were many challenges on our way. We helped our teammates in need. We talked to our parents and convinced them when they felt we were misled. We lost but kept going on. There was a time when we were one of the best teams in JFK but couldn’t lift the trophy. We were getting stronger day by day, we could see the changes in ourselves and in our team. Now, we were like a family. We slept at each other’s house to be on time for the practice as some of us lived far. When our family members would go to the village, we used to go to ___ bhaiya’s house. Now we were not playing for the trophy, but we enjoyed the game. We felt a different connection with football. The field was our home and the team was our family.
While all of this was happening at school, I had a whole different story playing at my home. In sixth grade, my mom and dad went back to our village because we did not have anything in the city to fulfill our basic needs. I made one of the tough choices of my life. I wanted to study and play football so I convinced them that I would live in Pune with my uncle and aunt and they agreed. Honestly, it was very difficult to live without parents at that age. I played football for my school team and managed studies as well.
I was a bright student in class and a good sportsman on the field. Everything was going well, until one day in seventh grade, I got a call from my village that my father passed away. We rushed to the village. I was hopeless and shattered and in a lot of pain when, for the first time, I saw my mother crying. She suddenly became the sole person to raise 3 sons and I was the eldest. She expected me to help her out.
When I came back to Pune, I was on the field right the next day. Football now was not just a game for me, but a means of expression.
Sexuality and Abuse
Being real is the most difficult thing to be but being real makes your life so much easier. I have no gender, something beyond male and female, something beyond limitations, something more beautiful. Biologically I am a part of this gender system, but for society and culture, we don’t exist. According to society, gender is only about male and female, not more than that. Then where do I stand?
I was born in Kolhapur, a city of wrestlers. I was the first and the last child in the house, so I was everyone’s favourite. My parents didn’t give me everything I asked for, but they made sure I didn’t have to compromise on my basic needs. My parents could not afford private schools’ fees, so they admitted me to a government school. I was always excited about going to school and meeting new people. I made many friends, learned new things, and enjoyed my school. As I grew, the circumstances changed. As an 8-year-old, oddly behaved boy, my classmates started calling me a girl. I was bullied for my sexuality and ‘behaving like a girl’. I never understood the meaning of ‘acting like a boy’. It kept getting worse with time. People started making fun of my sexuality. Everything around me made me feel different from my peers; I felt like I didn’t fit in. Everyone behaved like was not one among them and I always felt ostracised.
These circumstances forced me to alter myself, to change the way I was. I tried to behave like a straight boy. I showed how strong I was; I stopped sobbing; I spoke with a deep musculine voice, just to be like them. For me, it was like wearing a mask everywhere I went. I was in 8th grade when some of my classmates sexually abused me. This incident broke me from within. I went through a lot of mental stress. I never showed the pain I was going through. I was afraid to face the world, open up to people, and have eye contact with anyone. The thoughts in my head were eating me from inside, and one day I thought of attempting to end it all. I thought this was the last option, but I was wrong.
I underwent some counselling sessions in my school. My teachers made a comfortable environment for me. I realized that just because the world is not Ok with you doesn’t mean, you have to change, be yourself and go-ahead. I decided to overcome my fear and take off this mask. My passion for drama, added with immense support from my teachers, allowed me to hone my skills and explore the world of art and drama. I worked hard to get out of the fear of facing people, and my dedication paid off as I was offered a lead role in my school’s annual function. Currently, I am working with a theatre group, _. I was also selected as one among __ to perform in in France! Now I am sure that being myself can’t stop me from achieving my goals and dreams.
Mixed gender relationships
As a teenager from a conservative family and a government school, I also was led to believe that there was something unnatural about a boy and girl being friends. It seemed that knowing someone of another gender well had to mean that you were in a relationship.
During a play that we both took part in, I made my first real female friend, ___. But I was taken aback when I saw how everyone around us would think about our friendship. Friends would make fun of us or whisper behind our backs, teachers would ask us to sit apart. And even outside school, I was disturbed by the number of eyes that would follow us in public.
Given all this, I also thought that something might be wrong and I asked __ about what she thought. She explained that unfortunately, this is the way people think and that we should not be bothered. She was glad I talked it out instead of presuming anything.
As time passed, I realised how different a girl’s perspective is on the same things that I take for granted. While I was expected to find my interest and pursue a career; girls, especially from our lower-income communities, were almost always led to believe that marriage is the ultimate achievement. Convincing my parents to be patient and let me pursue a college education, seeking need-based scholarships etc is itself a challenge. I never appreciated how much harder it is for my own female classmates whose parents are keen on getting them married by the age of 20 and question the need for any college education for them.
For me, it was totally normal to go for my JEE coaching after college and come back by bus at 8 pm but girls were not permitted to travel so far after sunset due to safety issues. All this along with tiptoeing around difficulties related to menstruation adds up to so many restrictions and difficulties in a woman’s life.
It’s not that I did not ‘know’ about any of these problems myself. But having a female peer’s perspective just made it all so real. Since then I have been able to appreciate the accomplishments of women around me much more and this has also taught me the value of a diverse perspective.
Money
My favourite word is money. This might seem selfish, but I do not come from a family of many means. Infact my father, an auto driver, is our sole earner. During the lockdown, we could not even afford ration and were forced to move back to our village. Money offers the luxury to dream and hope. It may not buy happiness, but it can keep you safe, educate your children and keep a roof over your head.
I want to earn enough to keep my family happy. I want to earn enough to support people in need like my community. I want to earn enough to leave the world around me in a better condition than I found it. I believe Ashoka will give me the skills and maturity to achieve these goals. I’m looking forward to working on community development through business with the Enactus team at Ashoka.
An incident that changed my approach to life
I was not a very sincere student during primary school. I was in a government school and neither my classmates not teachers were serious about academics. Rather than studying I used to sketch or play football the whole day. Football was the only thing I took seriously.
In 2018 however an incident happened that changed our family forever. We were returning from a family trip and my younger brother was having a hard time on the drive back. What we thought was motion sickness turned out to be a blood tumour. He spent the next few weeks battling multiple surgeries, brain swelling, and paralysis. We weren’t in good financial shape to begin with, and the medical bills had left us in immense debt. My father was laid off since he was in the hospital all the time, unable to work. Even today he’s burning the candles on both ends paying off those loans, finding it hard to find good employment because of his lack of education.
This experience left me determined never to see my family in such a situation again. I’ve been serious about academics since then, taking a genuine interest in my subjects. I started working hard in classes, asked for extra work, attended extra classes and asked a whole lot of questions which helped me improve my performance drastically. I was still as passionate about football and rose up the ranks there too. Waking for 5am practice in cold winter mornings, exercising regularly.. It all paid off and I rose from a substitute player to vice-captain and eventually captain too. I attribute a lot of my confidence and success off the field to football too. I became more confident and responsible. The improvement in my communication skills as the captain helped me qualify for many debates. It showed me how the whole is more than the sum of it’s parts, and thus how valuable a team is when it works well. Football has taught me values of discipline, teamwork and how to take both success and failure in the same stride.
This was especially important for me in the next few years when my father lost his job again due to Covid. We were a low-income family of six, of which my brother was paralysed. So alongside my grade 11th and 12th I’ve been working as a salesman in a sports store to supplement our family income.
What could have helped us a lot over these years was health insurance. My brother had 2 brain surgeries and a month in the ICU with long-term treatment after that. If we were more aware of the benefits we were entitled to, like the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana insurance, we could have saved a lot of money. It’s not just us, but millions of poor families in India that do not realize the rights and benefits they are entitled to. I want to simplify and spread awareness of such schemes in ways that even illiterate people can understand. I would also like to extend this to provide support to those that are harassed by the police or more priveleged since they belong to a certain class, caste or gender.
Krea has a very strong reputation in addressing developmental challenges. I am particularly drawn to the LEAD centre’s work in a very similar space. There has already been policy-related work in finance, food security, and family planning. There is also Landesa, where Krea students have interned to study women’s land rights. All of these and much more when interwoven with the flexibility of the liberal arts curriculum will strongly position me to accomplish my goals after graduating.
I’m determined never to let families go through what I went through. I’ve done everything I could to secure a safer future. I raised my grades, got into Pune’s best junior college, worked part-time, and now I’m applying to the nation’s best university: Krea. I hope I get this opportunity that will let me turn lives around for myself and people around me.
True independence and grit 🌟
My mother passed away when I was four, leaving me and my younger sister, Riya, with my father. Dad did his best to take care of us, but for the most part it was the two of us looking after ourselves. He eventually remarried and had two sons. I was happy to welcome two more siblings to my family, but my stepmother now felt that she had her own family. One that did not include me and Riya.
We were regularly scolded, beaten, and food was withheld from us. Rather than supporting us, my father would toe the line between supporting his wife and his daughters. This went on for over a decade until two pivotal events happened together: Covid and my 10th Grade. We were always financially weak, but the lockdown forced us to move to our village. According to most people in my community, I had studied as much as I needed to. It was now time for me to get married. After all, my stepmother married my father when she was 16. Despite my protests, they set the wheels in motion with photos of me in traditional clothes being circulated, enquiries of grooms being made. And how I protested! I discussed, argued, begged and cried for months. I refused to have my pictures clicked. I refused to meet men who were 10 years older than me. After all this we arrived at a “compromise”. They would back off on the marriage. But if I was not going to listen to them, they would not listen to me either. This meant that they would not support my dreams of studying further.
I thanked my father for all that he had done, and contacted my teachers in Pune. Fortunately my teachers from iTeach Schools did not just teach me trigonometry or history, but they were my second family. They not only helped me apply to junior colleges, but also arranged scholarships making it possible for me to attend one of the best colleges in Pune. My uncle was travelling back to Pune then and he agreed to take us along. I found a job as an assistant at a jewellery store and was able to afford a place to stay for me and my sister. For the last two years my life has been college online from 8 to 12 followed by work from 12 to 9. I had to travel to new neighbourhoods to visit clients, and was harassed on multiple occasions while travelling back alone. Work was hard, and knowing that I didn’t have an alternative, my employer regularly overworked me.
Despite all these obstacles, I look at my life as a series of victories. I won when I postponed my marriage. I won when I got into junior college. I won when I became self-sufficient and could provide for me and my sister. I won when I made a presentation to our client in the UK who placed a large reorder. But I’ve made it so far due to the kindness of strangers. My grandparents sent me money the first few months. My uncle took me to the doctor. My employer’s wife would give me food. My teachers set me on this path to junior college and beyond.
When I graduate from Krea, I want to create opportunities to help people who’ve been dealt a bad hand by fate. I was often compared to students from private schools who had access to the most amazing teachers and facilities to pursue their interests both in academics and otherwise. I plan to build a platform for students from low-income families where they can be introduced to music, new sports, robotics, and learn about business practically. They should not be denied a chance to discover their passion because of their circumstances. As a student leader at iTeach currently, I help arrange academic and career support for my peers. This is just the tip of the iceberg. I want to help a lot more students and scale this across schools too!
Krea is one of the strongest colleges in India for careers in social impact. I’ve been inspired by Krea alumni around me at iTeach. In addition to iTeach, there are various organisations like Pratham and TFI that interest me since they focus on developing life-skills. I also plan to be involved in the LEAD centre’s IWWAGE, STREE programs on women empowerment. As an aspiring social impact entrepreneur, I will be pursuing the Social studies major with a business studies minor.