In an inspiring piece of news, a primary school teacher from Paritewadi village in Maharashtra’s Solapur district on Thursday was named the winner of the $1 million annual Global Teacher Prize. He won the prize money for his efforts to promote girls’ education and for his quick-response (QR) coded textbook innovation in India.
Ranjitsinh Disale was among the 10 finalists from across the world running for the prize. The award was founded by Varkey Foundation in 2014 for exceptional contribution to the teaching profession.
Mr Disale after winning the award said that he believes that teachers are real “world changers”. He also expressed his desire to share 50% of the prize money with other finalists. This means other finalists will receive $55,000 each.
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“The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed education and the communities it serves in a multitude of ways. But, in this hard time, teachers are giving their best to make sure every student has access to their birthright of a good education,” Mr Disale said.
“Teachers are the real changemakers who are changing the lives of their students with a mixture of chalk and challenges. They always believe in giving and sharing. Therefore, I am very pleased to announce that I will share 50 per cent of the prize money equally among my fellow top 10 finalists to support their incredible work. I believe, together, we can change this world because sharing is growing,” he added.
About sharing the prize, he said that sharing the prize will teach the world the importance of giving.
“I now encourage you to use this platform to give all teachers a voice. There is not a moment to lose as it will fall on young people to find solutions to problems that their parents and grandparents have lacked the will to solve, including climate change, conflict and global pandemics,” he said.
The ceremony was a virtual one and once the winner was announced, a lot of people from across the world tuned in to congratulate Mr Disale.
“Teachers like Ranjitsinh will stop climate change and build more peaceful and just societies. Teachers like Ranjitsinh will eliminate inequalities and drive forward economic growth. Teachers like Ranjitsinh will save our future,” said Stefania Giannini, Assistant Director General for Education at UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation), a partner of the initiative.
Mr Disale & His Efforts Towards Education
Mr Disale shares how when he arrived at the Zilla Parishad Primary School at Paritewadi in Solapur in 2009, it was a mess and a building, sandwiched between a cattle shed and a storeroom.
He then not only made sure textbooks are available to all students but also embedded books with QR codes to give students access to audio poems, video lectures, stories and assignments.
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Due to this initiative, a 100% girls attendance has been maintained with no instance of child marriage been recorded in the village in recent years.
His QR code initiative was also adopted by the Maharastra government and later by the Centre.
In 2018, the human resources development ministry announced that all the National Council of Education Research and Training (NCERT) textbooks would have embedded QR codes.
As per NDTV, Mr Disale has also been equally involved in bringing peace between young people from across conflict zones through a project named – Let’s Cross the Borders. The project aims to connect, young people from India and Pakistan, Palestine and Israel, Iraq and Iran, and the US and North Korea.
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Over a six-week programme, students are matched with a peace buddy from other countries with whom they closely interact with. So far, Mr Disale has inducted about 19,000 students from eight countries into this programme.
