President confers National Teachers' Awards 2020

New Delhi: For infusing joyful learning to making maths easy and developing innovative methods of teaching—47 teachers from across the country were conferred the National Teachers’ Awards by President Ram Nath Kovind on Saturday.

The national-level awards are given on Teachers’ Day to celebrate the unique contribution of some of the finest teachers in the country and to honour those teachers who through their commitment have not only improved the quality of school education but also enriched the lives of their students.

“Good buildings, expensive equipments or facilities do not make a good school but teachers have a crucial role in building a good school. They are the ones who develop foundation of knowledge and character building in our students,” Kovind said at the virtual award ceremony.

Lauding the role of teachers during COVID-19 pandemic when schools and colleges are closed, the president said, “We also need to ensure that the medium for availing digital education facility is also available in rural and distant areas.”

The Ministry of Education invited self-nomination by teachers through online portal for the awards. First level scrutiny was done by District Selection Committee (DSC) headed by the District Education Officer. Based on prescribed selection criteria, DSC shortlisted three names and the same were forwarded to State Selection Committee through an online portal.

This year, the candidates appeared before the jury through video conference and made presentations.

“The selected awardees with their commitment and industry have not only improved the quality of school education but also enriched the lives of their students and community through various activities like improving enrolment and reducing dropouts, adopting joyful and experiential teaching-learning practices.

“… development and use of cost-effective teaching-learning materials, organizing extra-curricular and co-curricular activities, spreading social awareness among children, encouraging community participation, appropriate and effective use of ICT in teaching, promotion of nation-building and national integration,” Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ”Nishank” said.