News
Teachers can be the agents of change – HRD Minister
On the eve of Teacher’s Day, HRD minister Prakash Javadekar met 346 National Teachers Awardees and said reaching out to children who are out of the school system was of vital importance.
On the eve of Teacher’s Day, Union HRD minister Prakash Javadekar said that reaching out to children who are out of the school system was of vital importance. He also called for greater community participation in education.
"Teachers can be the agents of change," he said, adding that reaching out to the communities and children untouched and needing education is the focus of the NDA government.
Shri Javadekar also spoke on the importance of early childhood education as well as need to focus on pre-school education especially for tribal communities.
He had a freewheeling interaction referred to as "Javadekarsirs class" on innovation in teaching with 346 teachers who will be conferred the National Teachers Awards by President Pranab Mukherjee on 5th September.The HRD minister invited innovative suggestions, saying they could be taken across the country.
Teachers from various parts of the country also shared the problems they tackled by coming up with innovative solutions.
An award-winning teacher from Bikaner mentioned how girls dropped out after class X in her school after which teachers formed a group to convince parents to let them study rather than push for early marriage.
"As a result, the numbers have increased manifold," she said.
One of the teachers from Madhya Pradesh spoke about how he painted stories on walls to teach tribal children while another one from Telangana mentioned translating nursery rhymes in Sanskrit to teach children.
What are “National Awards to Teachers”?
Instituted in 1958, the National Award to Teachers are given away by the President of India on 5th September (Teacher's Day) every year to give public recognition to meritorious teachers working in primary, middle and secondary schools. Altogether there are 374 awards out of which 20 awards are reserved for Sanskrit, Persian and Arabic teachers.
Each State/Union Territory/Organization has an earmarked quota based on the number of teachers.
The Scheme also covers teachers of the schools affiliated to Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) including teachers of independent affiliated schools situated abroad, Council for Indian School Certificate Examination (CISCE), Sainik School, KendriyaVidyalayaSangathan (KVS), NavodayaVidyalayaSamiti (NVS), Central Tibetan School Administration (CTSA) and schools run by the Atomic Energy Education Society.
From the award year 2001, ‘Special Awards’ have been instituted for teachers promoting inclusive education in schools and the education of children with disabilities in regular schools. The total number of ‘Special Awards’ are 43. ‘Special Awards’ are conferred on the teachers of following categories:
- Teachers with disabilities working in mainstream schools.
- Special teacher or trained general teachers who have done outstanding work for Inclusive Education.
(As per info available at http://mhrd.gov.in/national-awards-to-teachers, a part of this article is based on a story published here)
Image Courtesy: YouTube