India's Best Teachers' Awards 2026: A classroom experiment rooted in Bastar's geography, culture and everyday life has helped Vinayak Kohli, a social science teacher at PM Shri Kendriya Vidyalaya Kondagaon, win national recognition in the Geography category of the India's Best Teachers' Awards 2026.
Kohli was selected as the public-school national winner from more than 9,400 registrations across 32 states and Union Territories. The awards were jointly organised by the Shiv Nadar Foundation and the University of Oxford's Saïd Business School.
According to the official participation certificate, Kohli, Geography faculty at PM Shri KV Kondagaon, Chhattisgarh, attended and participated in the National Finals of the Oxford Said - Shiv Nadar Foundation India's Best Teachers' Awards 2026, held on September 3 to 5, 2026, at Shiv Nadar University, Delhi-NCR. Kohli has won the award in the Geography category, the official certificate noted.
Kohli's teaching model moved geography and social science lessons beyond textbook explanations. Speaking with NDTV, Kohli said that he used Bastar's natural environment, local resources, traditional art, cultural practices, and community life to help students understand concepts through familiar examples.
At the centre of this approach was a social science laboratory, where students explored the social, geographical, and cultural features of their own region. The initiative also included a mini Bastar art museum, allowing students to connect classroom learning with local heritage and material culture.
Kohli told NDTV that the national finals were held on September 4, 2026, where each finalist delivered a 10-minute live presentation followed by five minutes of questions. Kohli's presentation opened with the traditional Bharatanatyam Namaskaram, he said.
In a social media post on X, the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan congratulated the KV teachers for winning the India's Best Teachers' Awards 2026.
According to Kohli, his selection followed a three-stage process. After progressing through the national competition, he was invited to Delhi for the final round, where he presented his teaching model before Oxford professors and other experts. His presentation and the evidence of its classroom impact led to his selection as the Geography category winner.
Explaining his initiative, Kohli stated that the lab gives students of Classes 6 to 10 a permanent, hands-on space for models, charts, and projects tied to the curriculum, while the adjoining museum corner houses a curated collection of Bastar's wooden carvings, terracotta art, Dhokra metalwork, and Warli and tribal folk paintings - many made by students themselves, working alongside local artisans, and lit with LED wiring the students installed.
Kohli asserted that the lab and museum are not showpieces but working classrooms: students collect soil samples from the field, build maps, stage role-play and mock-parliament sessions, and take part in regular meditation sessions as part of competency-based, NEP 2020-aligned teaching.
As incharge of the school's Youth Parliament and Social Science Exhibition, Kohli said that he has also had students run their own student council elections, first by paper ballot, and later through a student-built EVM-style booth with indelible ink marking, giving them a first-hand understanding of India's democratic process.
According to the official website, the award is a national initiative jointly delivered by Saïd Business School, University of Oxford and the Shiv Nadar Foundation. "The initiative recognises and celebrates outstanding high-school teachers across India," the official website noted.
Selected from schools across India, the finalists represented outstanding practice across eight subject areas and reflected the knowledge, imagination, and commitment that define "excellent teaching," the organising body noted. Each participant demonstrated a thoughtful approach to learning, a strong command of their subject, and a clear commitment to helping young people flourish, the organising committee noted.
Kohli's achievement has prompted the Kondagaon administration to promote similar methods across the district. Collector Nupur Rashi Panna directed school principals to develop geography laboratories in their institutions so that students can learn through experiments, observation, and real-world examples.
