Culture

We are a diverse and dedicated team, working with commitment to realise the organisation’s vision. We strive to create an environment that fosters excellence, encourages innovation and nurtures people to succeed.

Diversity and Inclusion

We are an equal opportunity employer and do not differentiate in terms of gender, religion, ethnicity, physical ability, age and sexual orientation. We foster a culture of inclusion and respect.

The RTT Story

The Reach to Teach story began in the state of Gujarat in 2007 and has since evolved from a doorstep school in a bus to an organisation that now works with State Governments to deliver impact at scale.

Reach to Teach was founded by Sanjeev Gandhi, a London-based technology investor, in 2003 with the objective of bringing education to out-of-school tribal children in the remote areas of Gujarat. The initial engagement was with tribal districts like Valsad through mobile classrooms. Meals were offered to bring children to learn and build rapport with communities.

The School Improvement Programme (subsequently renamed the Education & Community Programme, ECP) was launched to support teachers develop their approach towards classroom management skills and enable stimulating learning environments, provide leadership training to Headteachers as well as reach out with community-based activities to improve attendance and engagement between schools, parents, and communities across three districts of Gujarat – Kutch, Bharuch and Morbi .

early days

2003 - 2007

Learning Resource Centres were set up in rural communities in partnership with local non-profits. Out-of-school children were supported in developing foundational skills and transitioning back to schools. Primary teachers from the United Kingdom trained and supported para-teachers in these centres.

2007-2012

deepening community engagement

2007 was a milestone year for Reach to Teach as the Larry Ellison Foundation became an anchor funder giving it the impetus to scale up operations.

Impact during this period

104 RTT Centres set up
160 para-teachers deployed
3,000 children reached

104

RTT centres setup

160

para-teachers deployed

3000

children reached

The learning centres integrated with government schools to improve the overall quality of school education. Developing foundational skills remained the focus and external education experts supported the community para-teachers.

2012-2015

alignment with government schools

This was first implemented

in Kutch district across

26 government schools

reaching out to

over 4,000 children.

The Education & Community Programme was launched in 2015 to support teachers in classroom management and create a stimulating learning environment. Leadership training was provided to head teachers. The programme embedded itself in community to create ownership at all levels.

Direct impact:

230 schools
230 head teachers
1,500 teachers
56,000 children

Indirect impact:

100,000 teachers
3,500 community volunteers

Districts:

Kutch
Bharuch
Morbi

2015-2019

programmatic interventions

In 2019, a strategic shift was made to engage with the Gujarat Education Department to drive scale based on field-level learning of the past decade. The focus moved to was on supporting system-level capacity building and strengthening.

2019

strategic partnership with government

In 2020 there was an organisational shift as the Board of Directors decided that the focus of RTT’s work needed to be India. As a result, the corporate office of RTT moved from UK to India. In March 2020, Ratna Viswanathan became the first India-based CEO and succeeded Steve Cutts who was the last UK-based Chief Executive.

Commencing 2021, RTT is systematically expanding its geographical footprint. The aim is to work across several states, with a focus on North-eastern states. We currently work in Gujarat, Haryana and Arunachal Pradesh.