What it does: Improve children’s access to quality education in Bangladesh.
Best known for: Teach For Bangladesh is part of Teach For All’s 53 partner network of non-government organisations (NGOs) in the world.
Staff stats: More than 150 employees.
The good bits: The group provides 24 days of accrued annual leave, eight days of sick leave, biannual festival bonuses, medical insurance, and travel opportunities in and out of Bangladesh.
The not so good bits: The organisation only accepts less than six per cent of applicants. Job security is an issue because of the group’s two-year contract for some roles.
Hiring grads with top marks in: Education; Social Sciences; Communications and Media; Business and Development Studies; Human Resources; Marketing and Sales.
Teach For Bangladesh joined the Teach For All global network in 2012. The NGO’s current footprint consists of 4,500 students at 39 schools in Bangladesh. Teach For Bangladesh has partnered with other private and NGO groups including BRAC, DHL, IKEA, Grant Me The Wisdom Foundation and NewsCred.
The organisation’s work complies with Teach For All’s 25-Year Vision for all children worldwide: by 2040, they hope to provide every child with the necessary education and support for a better future.
Teach For Bangladesh contributes to this vision through its four core values: Integrity, Ownership, Sense of Possibility, and Respect and Empathy. Their two-part approach in solving the educational problem in Bangladesh comprises a Fellowship programme for potential leaders, and identifying communities and schools with underprivileged children.
Teach for Bangladesh observes a strict selection of applicants because less than six per cent are accepted into the group. You can see the available jobs on their website. Applicants should mention the job position in the subject line of their emails.
Your resume should be a maximum of two pages. The cover letter should also address certain questions and answers such as the following:
What compelled you to consider this specific position?
What strengths/experience would you bring to this position?
Those who are hired under the Fellowship programme must complete pre-service training in the Winter Academy, which lasts six weeks from November to December.
The unpaid internship usually lasts 6 to 12 weeks. Full-time roles for recent graduates include office coordinators, which require business studies or management qualifications from a reputable university. Those who have at least two years of experience in administrative or coordination work will have an advantage.
An associate for the Fellowship Recruitment and Selection team must have the following credentials: at least one year of full-time work experience, an undergraduate degree in a related field, fluency in Bengali and English, and experience in marketing, sales and recruitment.
Management roles such as HR managers must have at least three years of experience, including two years as a direct manager of a team. If you plan to be a director, Teach For Bangladesh hires candidates with at least eight years of experience and fluency in English among other requirements. The group also prefers prospective directors to have postgraduate degrees.
The minimum average salary for a primary school teacher in Bangladesh is around BDT 18,000 per month. Teach For Bangladesh claim to provide competitive salaries ‘in the Bangladeshi context’, so you can expect the actual compensation to be more than the national average.
Graduates can improve their leadership and teaching skills through the NGO’s Fellowship programme. The NGO also sponsors employees’ master’s degree education, provide twice-a-year festival bonuses, medical insurance, and 24 days of accrued annual leave, eight days of sick leave. Employees also go to a national team retreat each year, and some of them are chosen for local and international travel opportunities.
You should expect work at Teach For Bangladesh to be ‘demanding’, according to the group. Fellows usually work for at least 65 hours every week. The workload includes classroom teaching, tutoring sessions, lesson planning and grading, data entry and analysis, and professional development and training.
However, TFB describes itself as an organisation with a horizontal structure, which means there is a small hierarchical gap between managers and staff. This will benefit graduates who are passionate about exchanging ideas and seek creative ways to solve problems.
Teach For Bangladesh’s peers in the NGO sector include BRAC and Sajida Foundation.
An unnamed former TFB teacher at a primary school in Banshkhali, Chattogram, claimed that some of her colleagues are unable to integrate modern teaching methods due to lack of training.
Teach For Bangladesh presents a good opportunity for fresh graduates to build and acquire the necessary leadership skills. However, some entry-level jobs aren’t permanent and only last two years, depending on the contract. Interested applicants should also anticipate an uneven work-life balance, although the group provides employees with competitive salaries and benefits in exchange for hard work.