India, Sept. 5 -- Deepa Raikwal has taught social science in a government school in Nainital for 19 years. When a new entrepreneurship programme called Kaushalam arrived, she watched students who never spoke in class begin arguing over whose idea to pursue next. Today she describes herself as something she never set out to be: "More than a teacher - a mentor who helps every child discover the confidence to think, act, and lead." A colleague of hers in Uttarkashi, Nitesh Chauhan, who has taught mathematics for 16 years, put the same shift more simply: "The role of a teacher is not to provide all the answers, but to help students discover opportunities that have always existed around them."

Whenever I think about what it means to be a teac...