A primary school teacher from Maharashtra's Solapur has won the USD 1 million Global Teacher Prize for his inspirational work in promoting girls' education at the Zilla Parishad Primary School.
Ranjitsinh Disale was given the honour for his transformational work of translating textbooks to the poor students in their mother tongues. This attempt had helped the girls students immensely.
Also by using QR codes he made audio poems, video lectures, stories and assignments more accessible to the students.
"This is a matter of great pride for teachers all over the country, and for every student studying in a government school," said Disale, who added that he would share half of his Rs 7.35 crore award money with the other nine finalists, the first in the Global Teacher Prize's six-year history to do so.
"I will share 50 per cent of the prize money with my fellow top-10 finalists to support their work and use the rest to create a fund to support teachers who are doing good work," Disale said.
He also expressed gratitude to the Varkey Foundation, the Maharashtra government's education department and the staff of his District Council.
Over 12,000 were nominated from over 140 countries and the winning announcement was made from the Natural History Museum in London.
Several leaders in the country have extended their congratulations to Disale, including Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray and Union Minister Prakash Javadekar.
"Heartiest congratulations to Ranjitsinh Disale a young and passionate Zilla Parishad school teacher from Solapur district for winning Global Teacher Prize 2020. His innovation, dedication and approach will ensure quality education to millions of children," tweeted Thackeray on Friday.
( With inputs from ANI )
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