Maharashtra school teacher who started "Tribal to Global" initiative awarded National Teachers Award
A Maharashtra teacher, Khurshid Sheikh, has been conferred with the National Teachers Award 2021 for going beyond his call of duty and make learning fun and easy. When Covid and its associated lockdown have made teaching and learning go online, this Maharashtra teacher took education to the remotest hamlet of Gadchiroli. Mr Sheikh is a teacher at Asaralli ZP Upper Primary School Sironcha.
The Maharashtra teacher travelled “difficult terrains”, used loud speakers, projectors and puppet shows to storify education. Mr Sheikh also introduced “Jungle Batches” and Jollywood -- making short films to make learning interesting.
Thanking the teacher, Maharashtra School Education Minister Varsha Gaikwad said: “Khurshid Sheikh, 45, believes that a teacher's connection with his students should never be broken. When COVID19 and the lack of connectivity in Gadchiroli's remotest hamlets threatened that, he took education to their homes by devising what he calls 'Jungle' batches.”
The National Teachers Award winner Khurshid Sheikh had to first learn the local dialect. Mr Sheikh used local dialects to invoke interest in education and has started an initiative “Tribal to Global” to expose the children to learn beyond textbooks.
His contributions, School Education Minister Varsha Gaikwad remarked, have helped many students in remote hamlets, who would have otherwise dropped out.
The Ministry of Education on Wednesday, August 18, had released a list of 44 teachers who have been selected for this year's National Teachers Award. President Ram Nath Kovind will confer this award to 44 meritorious teachers on Teacher's Day, September 5.
Among the selected teachers, two each are from Maharashtra, Telangana, Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, Gujarat, Bihar, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh. Nine of the awardees this year are women.