BHUBANESWAR: Two teachers from Odisha - Basanta Kumar Rana and Tarun Kumar Dash - will receive the prestigious National Teachers’ Award-2025 for improving the quality of education and learning in Malkangiri and Koraput districts respectively.
Instituted by the Ministry of Education, the awards were announced on Monday. While Rana is the headmaster in-charge of Government UP School at Kondel village in Malkangiri district, Dash is a primary teacher at the PM SHRI Kendriya Vidyalaya in Koraput.
Rana has been chosen for his work in foundational literacy and numeracy (FLN). Having worked as a teacher in various government schools of Malkangiri for the last three decades before joining Kondel school three years back, the 54-year-old has been using toys and school campus as a learning aid. “My focus area is the students of Balvatika, and classes I, II and III. I believe if learning is fun for them and their foundation in primary education is strong, they will never drop out of school at least due to fear of education,” he said.
Rana uses puppetry as a medium to teach the primary graders and prepares shadow, glove and stick puppets on his own for his students. When he joined the school, the students’ strength was 86. It has now increased to 148.
Similarly, Dash has been implementing a project ‘Katha Chitra’ since 2021 under the NCERT which aims at imparting education through dramatisation. He has written and directed seven short films with his students which delve into social issues.
One of the films, ‘Pahiya Kursi’ based on inclusive education won two awards at the All India Children’s e-Content Competition by NCERT recently. Last year, ‘Dadaji Ka Thela’, which creates awareness on the use of cloth bags instead of single-use plastic had won the same award. ‘Sadak’, which he wrote and directed, received an award at the National Road Safety Short Film Festival 2022.