The Minister of State for Human Resource Development, Govt. of India, Upendra Kushwaha felicitated 37 teachers and Principals from CBSE affiliated schools in the capital today for their contribution to the field of education and innovations in classroom teaching for the year 2017-18.In a significant departure from the earlier practice which was manual, CBSE for the first time had invited online applications from the Principals and Teachers for CBSE awards 2017-2018.
The Board had formed a National Level Screening Committee instead of Regional committees constituted earlier. This committee selected awardees on the basis of:
A . General Criteria for all categories of awards, such as Academic Qualifications, Scholarly Contributions, Functional Research, Curriculum, Community and Student Development achievements, awards and honours.
B. Specific criteria like effectiveness as a teacher, remedial teaching, contribution of the teacher thereof and,
C. Face to face interaction.
Besides the Principals the awardees include Primary, Secondary and Sr. Secondary Teachers. For the first time awards have also been earmarked for Performing Arts, Special Educators, School Counselors, Vocational, Physical Education & IT Teachers.The felicitation ceremony was held in the gracious presence of Smt. Rina Ray, Secretary (School Education and Literacy), Smt. Anita Karwal, Chairperson CBSE, Sh. Anurag Tripathi Secretary, CBSE and several other distinguished dignitaries from the MHRD, NVS, KVS and schools.The Minister congratulated all the awardees and other teachers across the nation. The role of teacher is unparalleled because “A teacher affects till eternity and you can never tell where the influence stops”. Teachers as role models have long lasting impressions on the students. Therefore there is a need to humanise education by instilling values. The minister said that the teachers must be competent to face the challenges of the system and know how to implement good practices and educate since teachers are the nation builders.
Rina Ray, Secretary (School Education and Literacy) in her praise to all the awardees said that one of the goals of education is to prepare confident students for future and transform them into socially responsible, virtuous and innovative thinkers while education should be accessible, equitable and should promote excellence. The role of a teacher is to prepare students by emphasizing on competencies instead of rote learning. She exhorted teachers to take the country forward by encouraging creativity, inquisitive behaviour in class rooms and bring radical changes in education.The Chairperson CBSE Smt. Anita Karwal congratulated all the recipients and said that the world is indebted to teachers for they build the nations, global societies and shape the lives of numerous students through teaching and guiding. Teachers are the real strength and pride of our nation said Smt. Karwal. She emphasized on Physical and Health Education, Skill Education, Mandatory Teacher Training for five days in a year and use of innovation and ICT.Shri Anurag Tripathi, Secretary CBSE, extended a vote of thanks and said that these awards are a testimony to the commitment, dedication and selfless spiritof each awardee.Each award consists of a merit certificate, a shawl and a cash prize of 50,000/-.