WHY WE'RE DOING THIS WORK
There is no greater education intervention than a teacher who loves teaching.
Our Story
Our Founder Sharath Jeevan was born in India. He was frustrated to learn that the Indian government had built one million new schools, but its children were not thriving and learning. It seemed teachers were seen as the problem, not the solution, which he didn’t believe to be true. So he started STiR to change that narrative.
We began as a small pilot with 25 teachers in Delhi. We were looking for promising ‘micro-innovations’ from teachers. But by complete accident, our interactions with teachers reignited their motivation instead. Teachers kept calling our small office to tell us we had awoken something – their love of teaching. Our phone didn’t stop ringing for days.
Eventually we were forced to run an experiment. We hired a wedding hall on the outskirts of Delhi and invited 400 teachers to attend. We had hoped that as many as 80 might join us. But 340 showed up – many with their own children in tow so we had to set up a makeshift crèche. This trial gave us the confidence that focusing on motivating teachers through local networks was right.
Over time, we started to grow. We added many more schools in Delhi, and started operations in new states in India. Our Uganda programme launched in 2014. We also started to partner with governments. A major pivot happened in 2016, when the government of Delhi asked us to be more ambitious about scaling. At their request, we expanded from supporting 70 schools to all 1,025 secondary schools across the state – with a mere three-month transition. This nerve-racking move paved the way for our government learning partnerships, where governments run and manage the approach with our support. It was a huge success that drives how we work today.
Like all organisations, the Covid-19 pandemic affected us deeply. Schools were closed for many months, limiting our ability to reach teachers and students. But our teams found new ways to support our partner governments. Activities moved online or onto public radio, sharing strategies to maintain learning during lockdowns and boosting motivation for teachers working in challenging circumstances.
Today, we’ve grown our impact from 25 teachers in Delhi to more than 550,000 teachers across four countries. Our Indonesia programme launched in 2022. We’ve also started to offer advisory services to increase our reach further.
We’re hugely grateful to everyone who has supported us to date. Our journey has been tough and bumpy, with lots of pivots and changes to get to where we are now. And we still have much more to achieve. But guided by our values and hand in hand with our partners, we know that we can achieve our vision: a world where teachers love teaching and children love learning.
“Your partnership with national governments has created the ownership and scale that makes STiR so successful.”
-Andreas Schleicher, Director for Education and Skills, OECD
Our Values
HUMILITY
We don’t have all the answers upfront.
OWNERSHIP
We empower each other with high expectations and support.
OPENNESS
We will listen, learn and improve, and lead through obstacles.
PURPOSE
We’re united by a shared vision we’ll build and achieve together.
