The Ministry of Education, Government of India will be conferring the National Award to Teachers (NAT) 2024, to honour and acknowledge the pivotal and exemplary work of the teachers in higher education institutions (including polytechnic). Z
In a notice dated May 30th, 2024, the Ministry has invited Higher Educational Institutions or HEIs to participate in the initiative. The awards will be conferred to the selected teachers on September 5, 2024, that is on Teachers’ Day, in recognition of their distinctive contributions, and for their dedication and hard work.
The Ministry said that the nominations for the award should be uploaded on the Rashtriya Puraskar Portal at awards.gov.in.
As per the notice, a total of 35 awards will be conferred this year. Of these, 25 are for teachers of HEIs or Category-I, and 10 for teachers of polytechnic institutions or Category-II.
Notably, the applications for nominations began from May 21, and the deadline for nomination filing is June 20, 2024.
The Nomination Procedure:
- The Ministry has listed out the following process of nomination:
- Self-nomination (Singular basis).
- Former or existing Vice-Chancellor / Director / Principal / Faculty Member / Colleague of the same University / Institute / College / Polytechnic, where the nominee holds regular employment, - Earlier nominee/nomination is eligible for re-nomination.
- Members of the Search-cum-Screening Committees may also take suo-moto cognizance of an outstanding faculty member and may nominate exemplary teachers.
- Award Jury are NOT eligible to make any nomination for this award, states the Ministry.
Notably, the applications for nominations began from May 21, and the deadline for nomination filing is June 20, 2024.
The Nomination Procedure:
- The Ministry has listed out the following process of nomination:
- Self-nomination (Singular basis).
- Former or existing Vice-Chancellor / Director / Principal / Faculty Member / Colleague of the same University / Institute / College / Polytechnic, where the nominee holds regular employment, - Earlier nominee/nomination is eligible for re-nomination.
- Members of the Search-cum-Screening Committees may also take suo-moto cognizance of an outstanding faculty member and may nominate exemplary teachers.
- Award Jury are NOT eligible to make any nomination for this award, states the Ministry.
Who is eligible?
As per the Ministry, the award is open to all faculty members of colleges, universities, higher educational institutions, and polytechnics in India, who meet the following conditions:
- The nominee should be a regular faculty member.
- The nominee should have at least five years of full-time teaching experience at the Undergraduate and/or Post-graduate level.
- Should not be above 55 years of age as of the last date of receiving application for the awards.
- Vice-Chancellor/ Director / Principal (regular or officiating) are NOT eligible to apply. Individuals who have held such positions earlier, but are below 55 years of age and still in active service are eligible.
Selection process:
- Preliminary Search-cum-Screening Committee for initial shortlisting of candidates, where category-wise, all-inclusive Search-cum-Screening Committees for initial screening and shortlisting of potential candidates will be done. The Search-cum-Screening committee will have eminent experts (distinguished retired faculty members/ experts from the industry/domain experts/eminent personalities/educationalists/national award winners and experts from the social sector).
- Committee of ‘Jury’ for the final section of awardees from the shortlisted candidates, where a comprehensive five-member Jury comprising of academic leaders, eminent academicians, and policy planners in the field of higher education will consider the recommendations of the Search-cum-Screening Committees and finalize the awardees in each category.
To know more about the nomination process and selection criteria, refer to the notice below: