Teaching is all about giving: Maharashtra teacher on global award win
‘World’s Most Exceptional’ teacher wins Rs 7 crore prize, splits it among nominees
Pune, Dec 4: Ranjitsinh Disale, a primary teacher from Maharashtra's Solapur, who won the USD 1-million Global Teacher Prize 2020, said teaching was all about giving, and added that he would like to work for students "across the borders" as he believed that the world was his classroom.
He also said that he would like to allocate 20 per cent of his prize money for his "Let's Cross the Borders" project that aims to build peace among student and young people from the conflict-torn countries such as India, Pakistan, Palestine, Israel, Iran, Iraq and North Korea.
Disale, 32, who works as a teacher at the Zilla Parishad Primary School at Paritewadi in Solapur, was on Thursday named the winner of the Global Teacher Prize 2020 in recognition of his efforts to promote girls' education and trigger a quick-response (QR) coded textbook revolution in India.
After winning the award, he had announced that he would share 50 per cent of the prize money equally among his fellow finalists.
Speaking to a Marathi channel, Disale said, "A teacher always shares his knowledge, insights with students. I received the prize for the work I did for the teachers, students and for the field of education."
"So if I share 50 per cent of the prize money with other runner-up teachers, it would help them do what they desire to do in their countries," he said in response to a query about why he decided to share the prize money.
"Of course, I want to work for the students in India.
But at the same time, I would like to work for the students across the borders as I believe that the world is my classroom," he added.
Disale said he wants to allocate 30 per cent of the prize money towards "teachers' innovation fund" that he plans to set up.
"There are several teachers in the country, who possess innovative ideas to transform education and I think that fund can be used for such talent," he added.
He said he had decided to develop himself as a "professional teacher".
"Teachers abroad are more professional. They spend some part of their earnings on their own development. As a teacher, when I came in their contact, I could see the difference," he added.
Disale feels that he is a teacher from the 20th century and the students are from the 21st century.
"So it is like students from the 21st century are being taught by a teacher from the 20th century with the 19th century curriculum using techniques of the 18th century. This is the gap that we need to bridge and I think technology is the main enabler in this," he added.
Disale, who studied in a government school, became a teacher after clearing his DEd course and joined Paritewadi in Solapur district in 2009.
When Disale arrived at the school in Paritewadi, it was a dilapidated building, sandwiched between a cattle shed and a storeroom. He took on the task of turning things around and ensuring the textbooks were available in the local language for the pupils and not only translated the class textbooks into his pupils' mother tongue, but also embedded them with unique QR codes to give students access to audio poems, video lectures, stories and assignments.
The impact of his interventions has been that there are now no reported teenage marriages in the village and 100 per cent attendance of girls at the school.
Disale's school went on to become the first in Maharashtra to introduce QR codes and after submitting a proposal and successful pilot scheme, the state ministry announced in 2017 that they would introduce QR coded textbooks across the state for all grades.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Emotional tributes paid to cops killed in blast at gunpowder dump of Maoists in Chhattisgarh
Narayanpur (Chhattisgarh) (PTI): Emotional scenes were witnessed on Sunday as wreaths were laid on the mortal remains of three of the four police personnel killed in an explosion in a gunpowder dump of Maoists in Chhattisgarh's Kanker district.
The grieving family members were inconsolable, while security personnel tried to comfort them.
Amid chants of "Bharat Mata ki Jai" and "Vande Mataram," public representatives, along with senior police and administrative officials, paid tributes to the deceased personnel.
The wreath-laying ceremony to pay homage to Inspector Sukhram Vatti (40), constables Krishna Komra (35) and Sanjay Gadhpale (29), killed in the explosion on Saturday, was held at the Police Lines in Narayanpur district, neighbouring Kanker.
The mortal remains of constable Parmanand Komra (29), who succumbed to injuries during treatment in Raipur, will be shifted to Kanker, where a separate wreath-laying ceremony will be held, police said.
Inspector General of Police, Bastar Range, Sundarraj Pattilingam, after paying homage, told reporters that the four police personnel made the supreme sacrifice while protecting the region.
"I pay my homage to them," he added.
The four personnel were killed while they were attempting to dispose of a gunpowder dump hidden earlier by Maoists in a forest near Aadnar village under Chhotebethiya police station limits in Kanker district, according to police.
It was the first explosion linked to Naxalites in the state since it was declared free from armed Maoists on March 31, and also the first instance this year in which security personnel engaged in anti-Naxal operations lost their lives.
District Reserve Guard (DRG) official Vatti, who was leading the team, hailed from Bijapur district. Constable Krishna Komra of the district force and constables Gadhpale and Parmanand Komra of the Bastar Fighters were residents of different villages in Kanker.
