This year’s ‘Global Teacher Prize’ awardee is Ranjitsinh Disale noted for his work in helping girls, most of them from poor tribal communities.
Ranjitsinh Disale, from Maharashtra, has been awarded the ‘Global Teacher Prize’ this year. The organizers had chosen Disale after hours of deliberation stating that: "He is honored because he has transformed the life chances of girls at the Zilla Parishad Primary School in Paritewadi, in Maharashtra." A very nervous Ranjitsinh Disale had been overwhelmed with euphoria after hearing about his win from the actor and writer Stephen Fry at a virtual ceremony broadcast straight from the Natural History Museum in London.
When Disale initially tread down the path of teaching in 2009, he began with a 'school' next to a rundown building alongside a cattle shed. The attendance was almost as low as one student a day and the rates of teenage marriage were soaring high. Disale had been the only teacher who had introduced digital learning tools and personalised programmes for each student.
Disale initiated big projects like environmental projects for the drought-prone district and also projects like "Let's Cross the borders" which helped students from the neighboring countries like Pakistan, Palestine and Israel, Iraq and Iran, and the United States and North Korea connect with each other to promote world peace.
Upon entering the teaching world Disale noticed that the curriculum was not even in the girls’ main language, Kannada.Disale moved to the village and learned the language from the locals and translated the textbooks himself for the girls in a language they would understand without fail, their very own language, Kannada.
Disale has reportedly won 1 Million prize money which he immediately announced he would wholeheartedly share with the other nine finalist candidates.As a teacher who is striving for the success of the tribal girls and women, Disale said that he received the biggest gift when his own student, one girl, from the village graduated from a university. The attendance has now become a whole figure of 100 percent!
Teachers like Disale have redefined and reintroduced the meaning of being a teacher, a carrier of knowledge and light.
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