Teach for Change staff heckled

Hyderabad: Some Teach for Change volunteers faced ridicule and non-cooperation from officials at the Government High School on Dharma Karen Road recently.

According to a tie up with Teach for Change, the government has mandated state-run schools to allow the volunteers to teach students. Deccan Chronicle works with Teach for Change.

The idea behind the tie-up was to allow volunteers to bring their expertise in their respective fields and their knowledge to municipal and government schools, which do not have teachers with such a vast knowledge base.

Volunteers at this particular school, however, were in for a rude shock each time they tried to offer their services.

A volunteer, Madhu Sharma, was not only given wrong information about the timings of the assigned classes, but also ridiculed by teachers and the school principal when she complained about it.

“I started volunteering from May, but for the first two to three times I was given the wrong time. When I returned the next day, I was asked to take a class which ended within five minutes. When I complained, the teachers mocked and laughed at me,” Ms Sharma said,

“It feels as if the principal is not appreciative of the efforts and one ended up wasting time and effort,” said Ms Sharma who is an international education consultant and has headed educational institutions like NASR in the past. She had volunteered to teach English and etiquette to the students.

The principal of the school told her that the students were unable to understand what was being taught.

Previous volunteers from the initiative have also reported having faced un-cooperative behaviour.

“Only in this particular school we have been facing problems. They are in confrontation mode and keep changing the schedule of the volunteers. In all other schools across the city we have seen that headmasters are thankful for our services, but we have been facing problems only at this school,” said Chaitanya M., founder and CEO of Teach for Change.