In a celebration of educational innovation and dedication, 82 teachers from across India will be honored with the National Teachers’ Awards on September 5. President Droupadi Murmu will confer the awards, recognizing educators who have transformed classrooms and communities through creativity, leadership, and a deep commitment to student growth.

  • 48 school teachers, 21 higher education faculty, and 13 skill development trainers are among the awardees.
  • Recipients include experts in Indian Knowledge Systems, such as Vaastu Shastra, the Bhagavad Gita, and Sanskrit integrated with AI.
  • Awards highlight low-cost innovations, community impact, and bridging traditional and modern teaching methods.

Classroom Innovators and Community Leaders

From Haryana, Anil Kaushik—dubbed the ‘Math Wizard’—built a state-of-the-art physical math lab with over 40 original learning models and a virtual lab featuring 30 ‘Harbans puzzles’. He has co-authored textbooks on Vedic Mathematics and published 22 teaching modules on the national DIKSHA portal.

In Rajasthan, Divyendu Sen trained government school students to track and hunt asteroids, bridging rural education with deep-space science. His low-cost solutions include an AI-enabled biology model and a QR-based botanical learning system called ‘Tree Talk’.

Vartika Gulati, also from Rajasthan, turns abstract concepts into tangible experiences—teaching algebra with groundnuts and geometry with kites. Her initiative, ‘Prashno Se Vigyan’ (Science through questions), replaces rote learning with student-led inquiry.

Beyond the Classroom: Impact and Inclusion

Jharkhand-based Munmun Bhattacherjee spearheaded an institutional turnaround in a vulnerable coal mining community. She introduced low-cost literacy tools, integrated children with special needs, and prevented dropouts through home visits.

Maharashtra’s Kavita Gitte spent nearly three decades integrating children of migrant sugarcane workers into mainstream schooling. As a national softball and baseball coach, she has guided nearly 210 students to state and national achievements.

In Gujarat, Nitinkumar transformed a tribal primary school into a digital learning hub, building a 45-computer IT lab, a 7D VR/AR lab, and a student journalism studio. His ‘QR Code Book’ project reached over 112,000 students during the pandemic.

Blending Tradition and Technology

Higher education awardees include researchers and professors pushing boundaries in both science and humanities. Kirti Chandra Sahu of IIT Hyderabad developed a unique facility simulating atmospheric conditions for raindrops, improving rainfall prediction.

“He has developed a unique experimental facility from scratch that simulates atmospheric conditions experienced by raindrops as they descend from clouds to the ground, with potential applications in weather forecasting and climate modelling,” a spokesperson from the Union Ministry of Education said.

Avlokita Agrawal of IIT Roorkee explores Vaastu Shastra through rational studies, while Vinay Chamola at Birla Institute of Technology, Pilani, leads an interdisciplinary Bhagavad Gita course that enhances student well-being.

Shivani V. of Karnataka Sanskrit University bridges traditional Sanskrit scholarship with computational linguistics and AI, contributing to major initiatives like the National Language Translation Mission.