On 5th September, India celebrates Teacher’s Day in honour of Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan's birth anniversary (September 5, 1888), recognising his valuable contribution and accomplishments. Many teachers in India have won Global recognition and made us proud as a country.
1) Ranjitsinh Disale
Ranjitsinh Disale, a teacher from Maharashtra, is one of the Indian teachers who has made India proud by winning the Global Teacher Prize 2020 also known as the Noble Prize for Teaching on 3rd December 2020. He has won the prize money of 1 million dollars and is the first teacher to win this award.
In an interview with a news portal, Ranjitsinh Disale said, “The challenges before me were multi-pronged, like the parents’ disinterest towards education, poor infrastructure, and the poor academic performance of the students. Their attendance was as low as two percent and teenage marriages were very common in 2009.”
“It was the biggest surprise of my life when Stephen Fry announced my name as the winner. I couldn't believe it. I am thankful to God and I'm really proud that I am the first Indian teacher to win this award,” Ranjitsinh Disale added further.
2) Deep Narayan Nayak
Deep Narayan Nayak has also made the country proud as he was the finalist for the Global Teacher Prize in 2023. His innovative teaching ideas have helped a lot of unprivileged students across the country. During Covid 19 pandemic, when schools were shut, Deep Narayan Nayak converted mud walls into blackboards and roads into classrooms, so that the unprivileged children who were not able to access digital classes, can continue studying.
He has been also recognised for his initiative in educating parents, especially mothers, and grandmothers. He also won the Best Teacher Award in the year 2020 from the Institute of Scholars.
3) Hari Krishna Patcharu
Hari Krishna Patcharu was also the finalist for the Global Teacher Prize in 2023. He is an English teacher and is in the teaching profession since last 20 years. His nomination explained, “While most teachers in the region use the dominant regional language Telugu when teaching English classes, this often results in difficulties for the students to express their thoughts in English freely.”