TAMIL NADU
Introduction:
Tamil Nadu is home to over 52 lakh students and more than 37,000 government and aided schools, supported by 60,000+ government school teachers who hold up the system every single day. These teachers are part of a legacy that pioneered the midday meal, launched the Naan Mudhalvan career guidance scheme, and consistently invested in foundational learning(Ennum Ezhuthum). They continue to work with and for the system.
The Centre for Intrinsic Motivation has been successfully working within this system for over seven years and we choose to work with the teachers and leaders who make the system thrive.
The challenge:
Teachers are increasingly expected to deliver more — manage multi-grade classrooms, implement new policies, digitise lesson plans — all while handling non-teaching duties that dilute focus and energy. In such a landscape, motivation can become fragile; not due to a lack of care from teachers, but because their well-being often ends up overlooked amidst competing demands and structural constraints.
“In my early years, I used to come home and be fully present for my family. I’d cook, and help my children with their homework. Now, I come home and continue working. Administrative tasks, data entries, lesson reports. I work from 9 to 4 at school, and then 4 to 8 at home. It’s been like this for almost a decade. And I’m tired — mentally and physically. It’s not the teaching that exhausts me. It’s everything else.” – Ms. Meera, Grade 4 government school Teacher, Chennai
That’s where we come in.
Our solution - Supporting Teachers in Transforming Education
We support teachers in building their capacity as educators on three fronts – Knowledge, Skills and Attitude with an underlying theme of cultivating intrinsic motivation — through reflection, connection, and consistent reinforcement. We co-create environments where teachers feel seen, supported, and motivated — not just once a year, but mechanisms that can support them every single day.
In Tamil Nadu, we walk alongside two School systems — the Model School Society and the Greater Chennai Corporation. Both centered on enhancing teachers’ agency, mastery and a sense of purpose- the necessary conditions for teachers’ intrinsic motivation.
We show up for those who show up for students every day.
We enable this through two pathways:
- Peer-led communities across all 38 districts
- Technology-based mentoring via EQUIBOT — our WhatsApp chatbot offering nudges, reflections, and guidance, 24/7.
Together, these pathways support teachers not just when someone is watching, but especially when no one is. because intrinsic motivation goes beyond the external rewards and praise. It is the inner drive of the teachers to do well and our focus is to nurture this drive through our proven approach of promoting intrinsic motivation at the systemic level.
Our Programmes in Tamilnadu
our reach:
