by Mahati Kopparla
About a year and a half ago in April 2019, I received an offer letter to work as a project coordinator at UNESCO MGIEP. I said to myself and everyone around, “This is my dream job!”.
What do I do?
Though my job title is very generic, my job is to work on education related projects at MGIEP, one of the seven category 1 research institutes of UNESCO. Here, we research ways of incorporating social and emotional skills into mainstream classrooms to ensure that students are prepared not just for jobs, but for life.
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Why was it my dream?
Growing up, I was a dreamy kid. I was told that I could choose any career path that made me happy. However, as I neared the end of high school, I was slowly steered towards maths and science for the sake of better paying careers. Luckily, I had enjoyed mathematics throughout my schooling and readily went on to pursue a rigorous training for entrance exams and an integrated masters in applied mathematics. In college and during undergrad, I was told repeatedly and in many ways that I was not good enough or smart enough. Dealing with this failure made me realize that high school had barely prepared me academically and left me emotionally unequipped for whatever came after. I decided, I really wanted to change this for the future generations. And that is where my journey to try to reform the education system began.
How did I get here?
After my masters in applied mathematics from University of Hyderabad, I completed a PhD in mathematics education from Texas A&M University. Pursuing a PhD in education was uncommon in India, but was a life changing experience for me (if you would like to know the nitty gritty details, feel free to contact me). During my doctoral training, I had the opportunity to meet several great teachers and educators. While most of my colleagues chose university based positions in teaching and research, I took a slightly different path and joined UNESCO MGIEP hoping to make a direct impact on educational practices and policies.
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Was the ‘dream job’ as I expected?
No, it was better and worse.
Dreams are irrational and often senseless once we wake up. As a student, I was unaware of the immense complexity of the existing education systems. In this job, I realized that the biggest challenge was not to implement a change, but to convince the educators/ teachers that a change was necessary. While I had the educational qualification and knowledge to advocate for changes, I severely lacked in age and experience as an educator. Through many interactions with teachers and students in diverse conditions, this job taught me that my dream was not just a job, but a much longer life journey.
Though this post has been about my journey, I have had immense support to pursue my dreams from my lovely family and friends. By the end of 2020, I have decided to move to a different location, marry the love of my life and switch to a different job. WOAH! A LOT of life changes coming up! Through all my experiences, I’m absolutely certain that I want to be an educator, but where and what exactly I will do next is currently undecided. I plan to continue to advocate for a change in the education systems and hopefully make a positive impact on the future of education.
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To summarize (with a little whimsy), your degree is like a ticket to a movie.
No matter how many reviews you read, your experience of the movie will be unique!
Just because you have a ticket, doesn’t mean you will understand the movie, sometimes we have to re-watch, search or discuss with others to understand the plot.
The movie watching experience may vary based on who you watch it with, but be sure to pay attention to your own thoughts and opinions!
This is only a brief description of my journey so far, if you want to know more about any part of it or want to share your story with me, find me on linkedIn or at my email!
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