Solapur man among finalists for $1-mn Global Teacher Prize 2020

A 31-year-old teacher from a zilla parishad (ZP) school in Maharashtra has made it to the list of 50 finalists competing for a US$1-million prize for innovation

A 31-year-old teacher from a zilla parishad (ZP) school in Maharashtra has made it to the list of 50 finalists competing for a US$1-million prize for innovation in teaching. Ranjitsinh Disale, a teacher at the ZP school in Paritewadi, Solapur district, has been selected as a finalist for the coveted Global Teacher Prize 2020, which is awarded by the London-based Varkey Foundation.

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Realising that students need to learn beyond textbooks, Disale in 2014 decided to use technology to better the learning experience for his students. The school at that time had only one laptop. While looking for solutions online he found a very easy option — QR codes. In the days to come, he created QR codes and pasted them in existing textbooks. Once these codes were scanned using mobile phones, additional resources on the topic would open on the browser.

In 2015, the state government adopted Disale’s idea and made QR codes available in Balbharati textbooks.

Data collated by the Maharashtra State Council of Education Research and Training (MSCERT) for the last state economic survey showed the number of digitally-enabled government primary schools in Maharashtra has gone up nearly six-fold, from 11,228 to 63,458 between 2015 and 2018.

Since 2017, Disale has been working on a unique project. With the intention of nurturing friendship among students in India and Pakistan, he conducts online video sessions with students from both countries.

He wants to ensure that each year, at least 5,000 students from war-afflicted countries of the world are recruited into a Peace Army.

“If I get to the top 10 and get the prize, I would donate 50% of the amount to the other nine finalists and the remaining would be used for my project and to support innovation of teachers,” Disale said.

Two other teachers from the country who have made it to this year’s list are Delhi-based Vineeta Garg and Rajasthan’s Shuvajit Payne.