The Problem
Teach A Class works with teachers, a largely ignored, yet important stakeholder in education. The ever changing and accelerated pace in advancement of innovations has created high levels of friction in discovery, exploration and access. There is a gap in Indian classrooms as teachers struggle to maneuver a largely unfamiliar landscape of teaching and learning in the 21st century. Education solutions and interventions adopt a one-size-fits-all approach, and are deployed without taking into account the role of the teacher.
Core Beliefs
Teach A Class believes that teachers need voice, access and agency. An effective teacher has a transformative role in nation building. Teachers create real value in an economy.
Teach A Class:
A marketplace for teachers and solutions Teach A Class is building a marketplace centered around teachers. A one-stop-shop for teachers, aimed to solve a teacher’s friction of discovery and access. Teach A Class connects teachers to affordable teacher-focused solutions, inspired by what they need. Teachers decide what resources are helpful, what ideas are great and what really works. Teachers have the opportunity to engage and connect with a resourceful, mobilized community, and are equipped to successfully lead themselves and their classrooms in the 21st century.
The model at Teach A Class is informed by on-the-ground realities experienced while deploying solutions in classrooms. The idea around designing for teachers and giving them choice is inspired by their desire to challenge the status quo. Teach A Class believes teachers are motivated, they work painstakingly hard to educate their students, but the system fails to listen to what teachers really need.
Scale and Presence
Teach A Class launched its pilot in 2019 and connected 135 teachers from low-income private schools, government schools and after-school and community centres across Mumbai, Pune, Lucknow and Hyderabad to 5 curated solutions. Solutions are selected after running surveys and interviewing teachers on what they need.
Teachers on www.teachaclass.org use one of the following solutions:
- ClassCloud by Zaya Learning Labs: A personalised learning programme
- SchoolWiFi by Zaya Learning Labs: An offline video library
- piCards by 22bate7: An instant feedback mobile application to check for understanding
- Library-in-a-Classroom by Pratham Books: A portable library of 100 story books differentiated by reading fluency
- InClass Science Kit by Experifun: A tactile science kit mapped to the syllabus, explaining concepts
To read more about the teachers in the program, visit:
https://www.teachaclass.org/current-campaigns
Connecting Teachers to the Right Solution
Every year, www.teachaclass.org runs two calls for applications for eligible teachers to receive solutions. For every solution that a teacher from a high and mid-income school selects, the marketplace is able to provide an under-resourced teacher with a curated solution and support free-of-cost.
Teachers in Low-Income schools:
- Eligibility Criteria: The teachers must be employed by a registered/recognized English medium school in Hyderabad, Pune or Mumbai and have their Headmaster’s approval.
- Offerings: Teachers have access to a free solution, on-the-ground support in using the solution, and access to events and opportunities for professional development.
Teachers from mid/high income schools
- Eligibility Criteria: The teachers must be employed by a registered/recognized English school, have their Headmaster’s approval and fundraise through teachaclass.org for the solution
- Offerings: Teachers gain access to a solutions customised to classroom units, weekly support calls, access to engagement and mentorship opportunities
To avail a solution they need, teachers answer a few simple questions that help the organization understand the resources they have, challenges they face, and the solutions they need. Once a match is made, a campaign is created on www.teachaclass.org to raise money for solutions. Teachers in the program receive weekly check-ins and monthly classroom observations from the Program team and are encouraged to reflect on classroom feedback.
“My students shied away from Science classes because their foundation in the subject is really weak. But since I’ve started using Experifun in my classroom, I see an excitement and curiosity in them. They’re finally able to see the real-life use of Science. I too enjoy teaching Science more now, since I love interactive classes.”
-Arti Nigade, teacher at Ashraya Initiative for Children, Pune, India
Plans for the year
The Teacher Hub: A Community of Teachers
Teach A Class aims to connect and engage with the larger teacher community by creating a Hub that enables an exchange of ideas and solutions around challenges faced by teachers. The Teacher Hub is currently in process and will be up on teachaclass.org soon.
VISION 500
Over the next couple of years, Teach A Class aims to reach 500 teachers from schools in Mumbai, Pune and Hyderabad across curated innovative solutions. The organisation recently partnered with Box of Science, an activity-based Science kit, and Butterfly EduFields, a do-it-yourself STEM kit, Leo and Mike’s Teacher Training Programme, Kiwix, an offline content library, Tinkerly’s Science innovation lab, Val-Ed Initiatives, a value education program and Sundaram’s E-Class as new solutions which teachers can apply for next academic year.
If you have an interesting teaching solution that Teach A Class could use, reach out to them on info@teachaclass.org.
Teach A Class is also currently looking for motivated teachers who want to access effective classroom innovations free-of-cost. Teachers can apply using this link:
https://teachaclass.typeform.com/to/zpnz9x
Teach A Class also supports any innovations or entrepreneurial activities initiated by teachers and is open to running experiments with teachers who have a unique idea or innovation but lack the funds to implement this with their students.
Support: Funding and Advisory
The organisation has been supported by Fidelity International, Morgridge Family Foundation, The Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation and Oppenheimer and Co.
Teach A Class has also been awarded a Gold ‘Seal of Transparency’ by GuideStar in 2019 and is a ‘Top-Ranked’ organisation on the donation platform, GlobalGiving.
With Sonia D’Souza, ex program-market development at Teach For India as the Executive Director, Deval Delivala, ex-Director of Process and Analytics at Uber, Neil D’Souza, Founder of Teach A Class, GetSetUp and Zaya Learning Labs, on it’s Board, and close working relationships with leading organisations in the sector, like CENTA and ISLI, the organisation receives expert support and thought partnership. Maya Menon, founder of The Teacher Foundation and Siamack Zahedi of Green Acres Foundation act as Advisors to the organisation.
For further information contact:
Trisha Agarwal 
Ph. No.: +91 8999590125
Email: trisha@teachaclass.org
Website: www.teachaclass.org
