Prospective interns! We have many opportunities for interns at NIRMAN. Since we have a wide range of projects, you are requested to send us a preliminary email of inquiry, with some ideas of the kind of project you are interested in, along with a resume. Based on skills and interest, we will identify the project which will be the most suitable for you. After this stage, you will be asked to submit the internship application (more information below).

Because of the range of NIRMAN’s activities, your internship can be tailored to your specific skills. Internships fall within the following groups:

Teaching internship in the school: You are required to teach in English three to four classes in the school, between the grades 3 to 9. You are trained in: innovative pedagogy, curricular integration of the arts, working in an organization, and developing English for non-English speaking children. The subjects you may teach include English, Social Studies, Science, Math, Sports, Western Music and Dance, Theatre, Art, and Creative Writing. 

Teaching internship in the Resource Centre: You are required to teach two to three classes in the Resource Centre to young people of High School and College age, and occasionally older. They are from the community; the Resource Centre is open to all. Classes include all kinds of arts classes, and have in the past included tap-dancing, ballet, jazz, music improvisation, portrait painting, basketball, American cooking, and Biology for beginners. The range of classes is very large.

Administrative internships: You are required to work in the NIRMAN libraries, shops, production units, or training units as an administrator.

Research internships: You work on one of the research projects of NIRMAN (Indian languages may be required, as they are not for the above internships).

Living arrangements: All interns are welcome to stay in the NIRMAN guesthouse which is healthy, safe, comfortable, an Indian experience, and brings you in touch with a cross-section of society. 

Money matters: An internship should last for at least six weeks; there are some cases of two week long internships as well as two year long ones. Interns should pay for their cost of living at NIRMAN and affiliation fees to the Centre for Postcolonial Education. The room and meals cost $110 a week or $ 1100 for the recommended period of 10 weeks. The affiliation costs $500. Almost all expenses except personal ones and treats and tickets on outings are included. Please find out any details as relevant. In addition “Nirman Tours and Travels” offers trips to other cities of India at subsidized rates: $500 would cover a tour of four cities from among Delhi, Calcutta, Mussoorie, Lucknow, Agra, and Ajmer.

Advantages of an internship at NIRMAN: NIRMAN has long experience in working with undergraduates and graduates from the USA and Europe. Because it is based on intellectual foundations and its programmes are conceived and structured by professors trained in the USA, its approach is familiar to and compatible to Western interns. Its mission of creating a new India is one of particular relevance to American interns because they will find themselves challenged as never before. The mission includes no less than coming to grips with the ideas and practices of: modernization, social change, religion, cultural practices, methodologies of development, teaching techniques, modes of communication, and the potential of the arts. Each of these is a whole subject in itself and much research and development on these areas has been carried on at NIRMAN.

The intern will benefit from existing work and be encouraged to carry on further work in developing these areas. At the same time (s)he will work at the grassroots to actually produce change through teaching, administering, or researching, or a combination of all three. There is an urban and a rural campus and the work is with all kinds of families and communities so the intern’s exposure is very broad. In addition NIRMAN’s artists, artisans, and musicians networks, as well as the school with its many families, enable interns to get to know Indian people quickly and in depth.

Requirements: In order for an intern to be accepted at NIRMAN, (s)he must submit her resume, a proposal of at least one page, a letter of recommendation, and an essay. The contact address for submission of internship materials is This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Following all this a telephone interview may be required. If selected, background reading and preparation is then required before arrival.