Education Volunteer - 'When you teach your son, you teach your son's son'. (The Talmud)

Work Commitment

Your mission as an iSPiiCE education volunteer is to help communities and children who have fewer opportunities, using your skills and talents to help them to learn and grow; Teaching is more than just reciting knowledge and iSPiiCE volunteer teachers have the chance to inspire their students to reach their full potential.

iSPiiCE focus on education initiatives for community development believing education to be at the root of social reform.  Poor education standards, illiteracy and high student dropout rates are some of the more glaring issues for educational reform in India.

Government schools (including government run orphanages and special needs homes) suffer severe shortfalls in resources and iSPiiCE volunteers help by assisting local staff and giving lessons in various educational institutions.

Education volunteers in India play an important role in raising awareness about the need for regular schooling and offer much needed support to local teachers. iSPiiCE work in partnership with local primary and secondary schools and education volunteers can work alongside local teachers or deliver their own lessons. 

The most commonly requested subject of teaching is English and we encourage volunteers to create their own lesson plans, with teaching materials available for this purpose. Volunteers may also bring their own teaching materials such as reading and picture books and teaching flash cards.

For volunteers teaching English, it is not necessary to have past experience and in-depth knowledge of grammar and vocabulary. The fact that the children have the chance working with fluent English speakers is invaluable on its own. For those volunteers with a professional interest in teaching, this is a fantastic opportunity to broaden your skills in a new and very different environment. Working with the children daily you will bring about a sense of professionalism and dedication and this is extremely valuable for children's confidence and also for your own learning of the local culture.

You may find that you have to refresh your knowledge on some of the basics of English grammar or Microsoft office to successfully plan and deliver lessons, this is all part of the teaching experience, and there are plenty of resources at iSPiiCE base camp to help. Sometimes the secret of teaching is to appear to have known all your life what you just learned that morning! - Who dares to teach must never cease to learn. (John Cotton Dana)

Voices from the field

"Volunteering with iSPiiCE was more than a service experience- it impacted my perspective on the life that I live. I was exposed to children who have wonderful personalities and a strong desire to learn. The work I was doing, in both the classroom and at the day care, was powerful. The students responded well to the volunteers and were excited when we arrived in their classroom every morning. In the afternoons, I was painting in a village daycare and we were often joined by the young students as they returned home from a day at school."

Annie Hejny, USA - Education volunteer India

"Working as a volunteer for iSPiiCE was an enriching experience in many ways. I had the chance to discover the culture in depth, learn about Indian habits and customs, improve my Hindi language skills, make new friendships and become familiar with the Indian lifestyle. I was working in a primary school as well as in a local community teaching both, English and IT to children and adults. Although it was sometimes quite a challenge coping with the absence of school material and equipment as well as with the Indian teaching ways and methods, the smile on the children's faces and their good morning greeting made it seem a minor problem. I can highly recommend this project to anyone who wants to make a new experience. To me it will be an unforgettable one."

Stefanie Wigger, Switzerland - Education volunteer India

Indian Education Sector

According to recent estimates 80% of all schools in India are government run making the government the major provider of education. However because of shortages of resources and a lack of political will, the government education system suffers from massive shortfalls including high pupil to teacher ratios, shortage of infrastructure and poor levels of teacher training, resulting in poorly qualified students and high dropout rates. Because of the poor quality of education delivered in these schools there is an ever increasing number of private schools and approximately 27% of Indian children are privately educated.

Education is the fundamental means for bringing socio- economic transformation in a society and as such, various measures are being taken by the government to enhance access to education especially for marginalized sections of society. For example, setting up educational institutes exclusively for women and reserving places for women in already existing institutions.