Maharashtra teacher wins $1 million Global Teacher Prize for promoting girl's education

Ranjitsinh Disale won the Global Teacher Prize 2020 from amongst 10 finalists.

A 32-year-old school teacher from India became the winner of the $1-million annual Global Teacher Prize 2020 on December 3 for promoting girl's education.

Ranjitsinh Disale, from the Sholapur district in Maharashtra, has been selected from among 10 finalists in a virtual ceremony. He announced that he will be sharing 50% of the prize money with other finalists. He is also the first winner to do this. The finalists had appeared for Varkey Foundation annual prize from all over the world. Since 2014, the foundation has been organizing the prize to find an exceptional teacher who has done full justice to his profession.

Mr. Disale believes that teachers have the potential to change the world. And, during the Coronavirus pandemic, it is teachers to make sure that every student has access to education.

Journey to remember

Mr. Disale always wanted to become an IT engineer. However, he started working as a teacher in a primary school at Paritewadi in Solapur, in 2009. After reaching there, he realized that the condition of the building was not more than a storeroom. The region was known for child marriages and the girls from tribal communities were not taught in the language they knew. He, then, took the responsibility to make the textbooks available in their local language. Along with translating the books, he also embedded the books with QR codes for their easy accessibility to poems, video classes, assignments, and stories. As a result, there is 100% attendance of girls and no reports of child marriage.

The star teacher!

In 2016, Mr. Disale was named 'Innovative Researcher of the Year'. His school was the first in Maharashtra to introduce QR codes. Later, the National Council of Education Research and Training (NCERT) introduced it in the books. Mr. Disale has also started a project, “Let’s Cross the Borders”, a platform to ensure connectivity between young people of eight countries like India, Pakistan, Palestine, Israel, Iraq, Iran, the U.S., and North Korea.

Also Read: 15-Year-Old Gitanjali Rao, an Indian-American became Time Magazine’s first-ever ‘Kid of the Year’

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