Maharashtra teacher wins $1 mn for bringing tech-backed education to tribal girls

A school teacher from Maharashtra has received global recognition for “transforming the lives of young girls” by using technology.

Ranjitsinh Disale, teacher at the Zilla Parishad Primary School, Paritewadi, Solapur, has been named the winner of the $1 million (₹ 7.3 crore) Global Teacher Prize 2020, in partnership with United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

He was selected from over 12,000 nominations and applications from over 140 countries around the world. The Global Teacher Prize was set up to recognise one exceptional teacher who has made an outstanding contribution to the profession as well as to shine a spotlight on the important role teachers play in society, an official press release from Varkey Foundation said.

Ranjitsinh has decided to share 50 per cent of his prize money with the other finalists. “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 said.

Wow! Here’s THE MOMENT Stephen Fry announced Ranjitsinh Disale as the Winner of The Global Teacher Prize 2020! Congratulations Ranjit! Watch here: https://t.co/9t5GXaIJ58 @ranjitdisale @stephenfry #GTP2020 #TeachersMatter #globalteacherprize #India @NHM_London @UNESCO pic.twitter.com/eQjSosGQwY

— Global Teacher Prize (@TeacherPrize) December 3, 2020

At a virtual ceremony broadcast from the Natural History Museum in London, comedian, actor, writer and presenter Stephen Fry announced the winner.

Ranjitsinh’s journey from 2009

When Ranjitsinh arrived at the Zilla Parishad Primary School in 2009 it was a dilapidated building, sandwiched between a cattle shed and a storeroom. Most of the girls were from tribal communities where school attendance could sometimes be as low as 2 per cent and teenage marriage was common, the prize’s official website said.

“For those that did make it to school, the curriculum was not in their primary language (Kannada), leaving many students unable to learn at all. Ranjitsinh was determined to turn this around, moving to the village and going to great efforts to learn the local language. Ranjitsinh then not only translated the class textbooks into his pupils’ mother tongue but also embedded them with unique QR (Quick Response) codes to give students access to audio poems, video lectures, stories and assignments,” it added.

“I am happy that my work towards achieving bettering learning outcomes with the help of innovative methods such as QR codes in textbooks has been recognised by the stalwarts in education across the globe,” Ranjitsinh was quoted as saying by Hindustan Times.

Thanks to Ranjitsinh, there are now no teenage marriages in the village and 100 per cent attendance by girls at the school. The school was also recently awarded the best school in the district with 85 per cent of his students achieving A grades in annual exams. One girl from the village has now graduated from University, something seen as an impossible dream before Ranjitsinh arrived.

The Maharashtra government followed Ranjitsinh’s QR code mode as they introduced QR coded textbooks for Classes 1 to 12, in 2017. Later, Union HRD Ministry announced that all National Council of Education Research and Training (NCERT) textbooks would have embedded QR codes.

Connecting young people of India, Pakistan

Ranjitsinh is also passionate about building peace between young people across conflict zones. His ‘Let’s Cross the Borders’ project connects young people from India and Pakistan, Palestine and Israel, Iraq and Iran and USA and North Korea. So far, Ranjitsinh has initiated an incredible 19,000 students from eight countries into this programme, according to Global Teacher Prize portal.

“He is most well-known for demonstrating scientific experiments from the science lab he has built in his home. Official numbers from Microsoft show that Ranjitsinh has taught an incredible 85,000 plus students from over 1,400 classrooms in 83 countries via these virtual lessons. But Ranjitsinh doesn’t stop there. He is determined to ensure that everything he learns is passed on to other teachers.

“During summer vacations, Ranjitsinh has trained, face to face, more than 16,000 in-service teachers throughout the state of Maharashtra on how they can augment their teaching using technology. As a result of all Ranjitsinh’s endeavours, the sitting CEO of Microsoft, Satya Nadella, recognised Ranjitsinh as one of three stories from India in his 2017 book ‘Hit Refresh’,” the website added.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray congratulated Ranjitsinh. “Saying that Maharashtra is proud of you and the state as well as the country needs such enterprising teachers, Chief Minister Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray has congratulated Ranjit Singh Disale, a Zilla Parishad teacher from Solapur, for receiving the Global Teacher Award,” Maharashtra Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) tweeted in Marathi.

महाराष्ट्राला तुमचा अभिमान वाटतो व अशा उपक्रमशील शिक्षकांची राज्य तसेच देशाला गरज आहे, असे सांगून मुख्यमंत्री उद्धव बाळासाहेब ठाकरे यांनी सोलापूर येथील जिल्हा परिषद शिक्षक रणजितसिंह डिसले यांचे ग्लोबल टीचर पुरस्कार मिळाल्याबद्दल अभिनंदन आणि कौतुक केले आहे.@ranjitdisale

— CMO Maharashtra (@CMOMaharashtra) December 4, 2020

शिक्षण क्षेत्रातील नोबेल समजला जाणारा @TeacherPrize मिळाल्याबद्दल महाराष्ट्राचे
@CMOMaharashtra आदरणीय @uddhavthackeray यांनी फोन करून अभिनंदन केले, त्याबद्दल त्यांचे मनःपूर्वक धन्यवाद .

— Ranjitsinh (@ranjitdisale) December 4, 2020