Indian Ranjitsinh Disal is ‘World’s most exceptional teacher’

A proud moment for every Indian! Ranjitsinh Disale, a primary school teacher at a government school in the village of Paritewadi, Maharashtra has won this year's Global Teacher Prize for improving the education of girls. The 32-year-old primary school teacher won USD 1 million as prize money

Besides, Ranjitsinh also made history after he decided to share the approximately Rs 7.4 crore prize money with nine finalists for the Global Teacher Prize to support the “incredible work” of the “change-makers”. Each of the other Global Teacher Prize, finalists will thus get around Rs 40.57 lakh each.

According to a PTI report, when he first arrived to teach at the Zilla Parishad Primary School in Paritewadi village, the building was ramshackle and sandwiched between a cattle shed and a storeroom. Disale turned the whole scene around and translated the textbooks into the local language to help children study in their mother tongue.

Disale is well-known for his teaching work, which included adding QR codes to primary class books so that the children can get links to audio poems, video lectures, assignments, and stories. He has also worked to spread awareness on the ills of teenage marriages and the importance of education for girls. Now, the village sees 100% attendance of girls at the school and no teenage marriage has been reported in long, says the PTI report. His work has made him a hero in his region.

This is not the first time that the 32-year-old government schoolteacher has bagged an award for his work. He has also previously won the Innovative Researcher of the Year 2016 award, and the National Innovation Foundation’s Innovator of the Year 2018 award. His work has also been mentioned in Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella’s book ‘Hit Refresh’.