President Murmu felicitates 82 teachers for innovative education initiatives

President Droupadi Murmu felicitated 82 teachers and educators with national awards on Teachers’ Day, recognising innovations including mobile science labs, recycled-material science parks, QR-based botanical learning, reading campaigns and community initiatives that expand access to quality, inclusive and practical education

New Delhi: Developing a mobile science lab on a cart, an interactive outdoor science and knowledge park using recycled materials, a reading campaign and ‘tree talk’ — a QR code-based botanical learning system — are among the innovations that have bagged the national awards for 82 teachers.

On the occasion of Teachers’ Day, President Droupadi Murmu on Saturday felicitated 82 teachers and educators who have been selected from three departments. These include 48 teachers from the Department of School Education and Literacy, 21 teachers or faculty members from higher educational institutions and polytechnics, and 13 skill trainers from the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship.

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Divyendu Sen from Mahatma Gandhi Government School, Jhalawar, Rajasthan has been awarded for pioneering scalable, low-cost solutions, including the Virtual Biology Laboratory, AI-enabled biology education and the ‘Tree Talk’ QR code-based botanical learning system. These initiatives were acknowledged for their capacity to make high-level STEM education accessible to government school students.

Sunita Yadav from Chhattisgarh’s Government Middle School in Khichari was chosen for empowering rural communities by leading holistic educational development initiatives. “Her groundbreaking community initiative, Nyota Bhojan (now expanded statewide), along with home reading campaigns (Ghar-Ghar Pustak Vachan), has driven 100 per cent FLN literacy in her school, earning it the ‘Sugghar Padhaiya’ Platinum Grade status,” the award citation read. Nyota Bhojan is a community-sponsored meal initiative, credited for improving student nutrition in Yadav’s school.

Kunda Jayawant Bachhav from Nashik in Maharashtra has received the award for bringing innovative and equal learning opportunities to every student. “Through her transformative ‘Educational Parenting’ initiative, she has provided financial and academic support to over 150 underprivileged girls, preventing early marriages and opening pathways to higher education.

Her efforts in mobilising over Rs 55 lakh in community and CSR support and mentoring students to achieve national awards highlight her exceptional commitment to holistic development, community trust and inclusive nation-building,” the citation read.

Ravi Jaiswal of the Government Model High School, Chandigarh, has received the honour for his innovative pedagogy, highlighted by his creation of low-cost, scalable solutions like the CV Raman Dome Theatre, a Mobile Science Lab on a cart and an interactive outdoor Science and Knowledge Park built using recycled materials.  The dedicated outreach to bring dropout and out-of-school children from 60 villages back into the classroom has earned Renu Tripathi from Government Balika Inter College, Ghaziabad, the national award.