Why I Started Teaching

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As I am writing this, there are one billion, three hundred and sixty eight million, eight hundred and ninety nine thousand, four hundred and fifty four people residing in India(according to the UN’s estimates). With so many people, you’d expect a satisfyingly large economy to support the populace; well, I did and my disappointment in the fact that India lags in this respect to Germany(a country with 17 times fewer citizens than my own), by a whopping 1 trillion USD was not unwarranted. After the Second World War, Germany’s economy was in shambles. Around the same time, India had attained Independence. Yet after 70 years, the former’s GDP per capita preceded the latter’s by 2200%.

All this had me pondering…Was Germany’s success due to the aid received by the Allies post-war? Perhaps it was the deep-rooted Indian corruption that impeded her success… Maybe it was the low literacy rates…

There was no definitive answer I could find, and it would always end with me doubting India’s capabilities to emerge as a developed nation in the future.

I decided there was no point ruminating about what happened in the past with my limited knowledge, so in the beginning of August, I decided to do something about it. The ‘it’ refers to making South Asia, and the world a tad happier, with less inequality, maybe. I located a school run by an NGO in the slums close to where I live, and began English communication classes, for 2 hours every week. This may not seem like a lot, but it’s the most time I can spend, amidst mid-terms, SAT prep and a bucketload of classes.

I intend to spend 6 months with the students, a total of 48 hours, to help them with their spoken English, and by the end of the course, I will put up a play, to give the students some hands-on action with theatre, stage performance and because scripting, memorising lines and practising will inadvertently boost the students’ brevity and confidence.