Ranjitsinh Disale, a primary teacher hailing from Solapur in Maharashtra, has garnered international recognition by securing the esteemed Global Teacher Prize 2020.
About the Global Teacher Prize
This yearly award, which boasts one million dollars as its prize money, is meant to honour a teacher who has demonstrated exceptional commitment to their profession. The Varkey Foundation, a global charity with a focus on elevating educational standards, is behind this initiative. It is executed in collaboration with UNESCO.
The prize is instrumental in highlighting the crucial role played by educators worldwide. It serves as a commendation for their exemplary work, acknowledging their profound impact not only on the students they teach but also on the larger community.
Education, frequently undermined is an essential tool in alleviating societal, political, economic, and health challenges – a tool with the power to eradicate poverty, conflict, and prejudice.
Ranjitsinh Disale’s Significant Contributions
At the heart of Disale’s achievement lies his transformative work with a struggling school, which he turned around to become Maharashtra’s premier institution to integrate Quick Response (QR) codes.
These matrix barcodes can be easily scanned using a QR scanner or a built-in smartphone camera. They have proved to be an effective teaching aid, especially when embedded in textbooks translated into the students’ mother tongue. This innovative method provides students easy access to a variety of learning resources such as audio poems, video lectures, stories, and assignments.
Moreover, Disale’s ‘Let’s Cross the Borders’ project fosters a sense of global fraternity among youngsters dwelling in conflict zones worldwide.
The Positive Impact of Disale’s Efforts
Disale’s dedication and innovative teaching approach have brought about substantial changes in the social fabric of his village. There are zero cases of teenage marriages, and the attendance rates of girls at the school have skyrocketed to 100%.
His remarkable success with QR coded textbooks prompted the state government to introduce similar textbooks across all grades in 2017. Later, in 2018, NCERT textbooks followed suit by embedding QR Codes throughout their books.
Indian Initiatives to Boost the Education Sector
Several initiatives have been put into place on a national scale to invigorate India’s education sector. One of these is the National Education Policy 2020, placing teachers at the forefront of education system reforms.
Additionally, Revitalising Infrastructure and Systems-RISE 2022 aims to significantly improve research and academic infrastructure to meet global standards. Meanwhile, the Learning Outcome-based Curriculum Framework (LOCF) issued by UGC promotes active learning in students and mentoring capabilities in teachers.
Further, GIAN invites foremost academicians and entrepreneurs worldwide to teach in Indian higher educational institutions. Simultaneously, the AISHE survey identifies institutions of higher learning and collects vital data on many aspects of higher education.
The e-Pathshala initiative, launched in 2015, encourages self-learning among school students through providing an online platform for both students and teachers.
The Global Initiative
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) releases an annual Global Education Monitoring Report. This report monitors progress towards meeting the Sustainable Development Goals(SDG-4), specifically targets related to education.
