From Paritewadi, Maharashtra, a government teacher decided to split the prize money with the other nine finalists as his way of appreciating their work.
Ranjitsinh Disale, the winner of the Global Teacher Prize 2020, was known for embedding QR codes in textbooks. Not just that, he was also known for promoting education for girls and going against teenage marriages.
This government teacher has not only made history by winning the $1 million Global Teacher Prize 2020 but by wanting to share half of his prize to the other teachers nominated to the finals, as his support and congratulations for them as incredible teachers, including the finalist from Malaysia, Samuel Isaiah.
“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,” said Disale.
“Teachers are the real change-makers who are changing the lives of their students with a mixture of chalk and challenges. They always believe in giving and sharing,” he continued.
“I believe, together, we can change this world because sharing is growing,” Disale added.
Initially, he wanted to be an IT engineer, but with the influence of his father, Disale went through a teacher training college that had given him a new perspective.
Arriving at the Zilla Parishad Primary School in Paritewadi village to teach, the building was dilapidated, situated in between a cattle shed and a storeroom. The textbooks were not in the language the children use in, so Disale decided to translate the textbooks into the local language to help them to understand.
Using his engineering prowess from his days in college, he attached QR codes to primary class books so the children could scan them and get the links for lectures, homework, stories, and even audio poems.
Disale was the first to introduce the QR code system in schools. After submitting a proposal and a pilot scheme that proved to have worked, the Maharashtra government decided to apply the idea to schools all over the state in 2017.
Eventually, the authorities announced that all National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) books across the country will have the QR code system embedded in the next year.
Not only that, but Disale has spread awareness on how teenage marriages are bad for the youths, and how education in girls are important to lead better lives.
There have been no teenage marriage reports in a while, and the attendance for girls in schools stay at 100%.
Disale’s focus is not only on schools but to build a better and more peaceful future between the people that live in conflict, like India-Pakistan, Palestine-Israel, Iraq-Iran, and United States-North Korea with the ‘Let’s Cross the Borders’ project.
Lasting six weeks, as many as 19,000 students from eight countries have taken part in the program that matched them with the cross-border peace buddy whom they have to interact and befriend.
Disale also has his own science lab inside his house to better help him demonstrate scientific experiments with more mastery.
Disale has won multiple awards for his credible works, like the Innovative Researcher of the Year 2016 award, and the National Innovation Foundation’s Innovator of the Year 2018 award.
His work has also been mentioned in Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella’s book ‘Hit Refresh’.
“By sharing the prize money, you teach the world the importance of giving,” said Indian education philanthropist Sunny Varkey, the founder of the prize.
“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.
“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.
The Global Teacher Prize saw over 12,000 nominations and applications from over 140 countries. Among them, Ranjitsinh Disale made it to the top 10.
His fellow finalists are Olasunkanmi Opeifa from Nigeria, Jamie Frost from the UK, Carlo Mazzone from Italy, Mokhudu Cynthia Machaba from South Africa, Leah Juelke from the US, Yun Jeong-Hyun from South Korea, Samuel Isaiah from Malaysia, and Doani Emanuela Bertan from Brazil.
Source: Global Teacher Prize, India Today