An Asian Working Overseas: Teaching, Training and Mentoring

by Leela Raj
(Bangalore, India)

Walking through London streets and browsing the classifieds and internet for school teaching jobs was an experience worth remembering for an Indian school teacher.

I arrived in London with a HSMP work visa given for one year and made a survey of the schools in a couple of counties. Walk-in interviews and written applications did not yield many results.

Efforts to gain entry in to a school while it was in session finally resulted in me getting a teaching assistance job in a popular school. I loved the work, which was purely voluntary, and for half a day. The knowledge I gained in that school about the education system in UK, English society and the rich history of that country made my visit a worthwhile one.

Discrimination towards Asians - sometimes by Asians themselves - was appalling. Ten months of my one year's visa passed by and I was not hired on a regular basis by anyone.

My savings were exhausted and by the end of the 12th month I took my flight back home to India. I am a qualified and experienced teacher, passionate about my work as a teacher, trainer and mentor, yet this is what I had to go through in looking for work abroad.