Utpal Sinha

During one of my evening walks in August of 2012, I decided to come back to India and become what I always wanted to be - a teacher.

I left behind a H1-B visa and a settled software job to understand the students of today and their learning needs. During my time in the United States, I had developed an Online Course Platform for school students - Coursera for Middle and High Schools. However, I found it difficult to convince people to develop courses for Middle and High School, and so began to design one myself.

The process of designing a course for high school students brought in the realisation that I do not understand the students of today. What are their learning needs? Are they facing the same problems I faced when I was in school? Or are they facing new challenges? What are their learning habits?

To get answers to these questions I decided to come back to India to join the 'Teach For India' Fellowship program that allowed me to teach in a school for 2 years.

My learnings from the fellowship directed me to take up leadership role in the Ed-tech sector.

However, the Ed-Tech corporate experience again took me away from teaching. This endeavour is my way back to teaching.