Prasid Sreeprakash (25), an alumnus of Government Engineering College, Trichur and IIM-Indore, is a second-year TFI fellow who teaches class IV students at Varsha Nagar BMC School, Vikhroli, Mumbai.

On choosing TFI over a corporate career…
A corporate job did not excite me. I wanted to work to solve some of the social problems in India, most of which arise out of poor education. In the beginning, there was resistance from family and friends because the pay is about 15 percent of what I could have got. But I soon got the backing of everyone who cared for me.

On teaching in a municipal school…
Teaching has been the most challenging thing I have ever done till now. Getting students to perform has been an exciting as well as humbling experience.

On the future…
I see myself in the education space for the next few years. The scale of the problem is so huge that you need to work for a considerable amount of time to create impact. 

TFI 2012 fellow Anna Charly is an alumna of the College of Engineering, Thiruvananthapuram, and IIT-Bombay. She teaches class VI students at the Shree Geeta Vidyalaya, Govandi (East), Mumbai.

On choosing TFI…
I got the chance to study in the country’s best educational institutions and the light of education has helped me walk towards my dreams and aspirations. I felt it was my duty to pass the light on to others. For a peaceful and progressive India, the best way is to educate the future generation.

Resistance from family…
My family vehemently opposed my decision to sign up with TFI. But I managed to convince them even though it took a long time. Now they are proud of what I do.

Future…
Right now, I don’t have any clear plans. But whatever I do, I will always work for the cause of education and I believe my experience at TFI will provide a strong foundation to do something productive for my country.

Sidharth Agarwal (32) is a TFI alumnus with an economics degree from Fergusson College, Pune and an MBA from S.P. Jain Institute of Management, Mumbai. From 2009-11, he taught students of the Babu Jagjivan Ram PMC School, Pune and is now TFI city (Pune) director.

On TFI, family pressures…
I heard about TFI in 2009 from a friend in B-school. I had an option to take a two-year sabbatical from my company (GE). At that point I was unsure if I would stay in education beyond two years, but my experience in the classroom has convinced me that this is what I want to do for the rest of my life.

Future…
I intend to remain in education, and that’s because of my experience in TFI and with the children in my classrooms. My biggest learning is that the teacher is undeniably, fairly and squarely, anecdotally and proven by research to be the most important player in education. 

Kate Rapisarda, TFI city director, Mumbai, is a Yale University and Teach For America alumna, who signed up with TFI in 2010.

Teach for India…
The scale of India and therefore what I assumed to be the magnitude of challenges related to education appealed to me, as well as the opportunity to get to live and learn from another culture so different from my own. It’s so surprising how similar instructional techniques are across age groups and academic disciplines, and more importantly, how similar children are across cultures and countries.

Future…
I want to support education start-ups, to help build sustainability and maximise their impact on children. What I’ve noticed is that often business leaders, not educators are at the forefront of decisions for many new organisations. I’d like to help new education-focused companies get off the ground and start my own school someday.