The President of India , Shri Ram NathKovind will confer National Award to Teachers-2018 in New Delhi tomorrow. The national level awards are given to teachers on Teachers' Day to celebrate the unique contribution of some of the finest teachers in the country and to honor those teachers who through their commitment have not only improved the quality of school education but also enriched the lives of their students.
Union Human Resource Development Minister, Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal‘Nishank’ interacted with the recipients of the National Teachers’ Awards on the eve of Teachers' Day, in New Delhi today.
Speaking on the occasion Union Minister on the behalf of HRD Ministry congratulated all the National awardee Teachers. He hoped that all teachers will try to fulfill the requirements of nation building. The Minister quoted the Former President of India Dr.SarvepalliRadhakrishnan, who once said that, teachers are the cornerstone of education. He added that an influential teacher adds more value to education and plays an important role in holistic development of students. He added that a true teacher always guides us and helps us in dealing with tough situations of life and teachers introduce students to a vast treasure of knowledge.
The Minister further added that ‘Guru’ word is a combination of two words ‘Gu’ means darkness and ‘Ru’ means to overcome. He explained that there is a tradition in our country to see teachers as a symbol of good behavior. They must exhibit best qualities to remain as an ideal in the eyes of students.
While addressing the gathering , Shri Dhotre exhorted the teachers to focus on each and every child equally and channelise and hone their raw energies into creativity. He said that it is teachers' responsibility to remove all hesitations, apprehensions and confusion from minds of young students and guide them towards intellectual and emotional maturity. Highlighting the crucial importance of school education, Shri Dhotre said that only wellnurtured and healthy plants grow into robust fruit-bearing trees. He also requested the distinguished teachers to focus on inculcation of right values their students, and also share their experiences with the larger teacher community.
For the year 2018, the online self nomination process followed by 3 tier selection process at District, State and National level was followed. The Independent National Jury recommended name of 46 teachers. The criterion adopted was to select those teachers who had shown innovation in their work and had added value to the school and to their students. These nominated teachers gave a presentation before an independent Jury comprising a senior educationist. This ensured that all of them were given an opportunity to place before the jury their contribution and the work done by them. The basic premise now is that the new scheme should be transparent, fair, and reward demonstrated excellence and performance and has been inspired by recent innovations in major national awards. The award carries a Silver Medal, Certificate and Rs. 50,000/- as award money.
The features of the new scheme are as under:
- Online self-nominations from teachers were invited on mhrd.gov.in. The Webportal was developed by the Administrative Staff College of India (ASCI) and the entire software ran smoothly.
- Applications were received online from teachers from all over the country.
- All regular teachers were eligible and no minimum years of service was required. This enabled meritorious young teachers to apply.
- The number of awards was rationalized to maximum of 47, thereby restoring the prestige of the awards.
- No State, UT or Organization had a quota in the final selection. This encouraged them to compete for the awards.
- An independent Jury at the National level made the final selection. The Jury reviewed the list of candidates forwarded by all States, UTs and Organisations. Each nominee made a presentation before the Jury, which made a final assessment and recommended 46 names for the Teachers Awards this year.
During the event the awardees highlighted the exceptional contributions made by them in the field of education. Smt Rina Ray, Secretary, Department of School Education and Literacy and senior officials of the Ministry were also present on the occasion.
*****
NB/AK/OA