New Delhi, Sep 3 : Like last year, Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu will confer the National Teachers' Award this year also on the occasion of Teachers' Day on September 5, the Ministry of Human Resource Development said on Monday.
Instituted in 1958 to commemorate the second President of India S. Radhakrishnan, a renowned educationist, the award was earlier conferred by the President of India.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will also interact with the recipients of the award at his residence on Tuesday.
Teachers from state or central government schools and those affiliated with CBSE or CISCE are eligible for the award.
The government has made a few changes in the eligibility criteria and other rules for the awards from this year, for instance, making it online and allowing teachers to self-nominate and directly apply for the award.
The government also lifted the minimum eligibility criterion this year, making the competition open for younger teachers, unlike before when one was required to have completed 15 years in service to be considered eligible.
The government has also reduced the number of the awards to 45 from over 300, in order to "restore the prestige of the award".
The Ministry in a statement said that 6,692 teachers have applied for the award, of whom 152 were nominated for the award by states, Union Territories and other organisations.
"These nominated teachers gave a presentation before an independent jury comprising a senior educationist, during third week of August," it said.
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Bengaluru: Karnataka’s Home Minister Dr. G. Parameshwara on Thursday said that an FIR will be registered against Madhya Pradesh BJP Minister Vijay Shah for his alleged controversial remarks about Colonel Sophia Qureshi. He also stated that legal proceedings will be reviewed in this regard.
Speaking to reporters in the city on Thursday, he said, “Colonel Sophia Qureshi is the daughter-in-law of Belagavi. I have instructed the Belagavi SP to lodge an FIR against the minister who made controversial statements about Colonel Sophia Qureshi and inform the central government about the action to be taken against him.”
Expressing displeasure over the Minister’s remarks, Parameshwara noted that the BJP leader's statement is not just an insult to Colonel Qureshi, and that it is an insult to the entire country. He said, no one should harbour such a narrow-minded outlook.
Also addressing the issue of pending funds from the union government, Parameshwara said, “However, due to various reasons, the funds have either been delayed or withheld. The Chief Minister has convened a meeting on the matter and has urged state MPs to press the central government for the immediate release of the funds.”
He also announced that the state government will be organizing a large-scale event on May 20 in Hospet, Vijayanagar district. “In this government programme, the Revenue Department will distribute property certificates to over 50,000 beneficiaries. The event will be attended by Lok Sabha Opposition Leader Rahul Gandhi, Rajya Sabha Opposition Leader and AICC President Mallikarjun Kharge, and senior Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala,” he added.