Updated 5 December 2020 at 21:08 IST
BJP to demand MLC nomination for Global Teacher Prize 2020 winner Ranjitsinh Disale
BJP's Pravin Darekar announced that his party would request Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari to nominate Ranjitsinh Disale to the Maharashtra Legislative Council.
BJP leader Pravin Darekar on Saturday announced that his party would request Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari to nominate Ranjitsinh Disale to the Maharashtra Legislative Council. The Governor is mandated by the Constitution to nominate to the legislative council 12 members from the fields of literature, art, science, cooperative movement, and social service on the recommendation of the state government. A primary school teacher, Disale was named the winner of the $1 million annual Global Teacher Prize 2020 on Thursday.
He was selected in the final 10 from over 12,000 nominations and applications from over 140 countries. Addressing the media at Disale's residence, Darekar told the media that the knowledge of such persons will be useful for the state and the country at large. The Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council lamented that the Indian electoral system did not provide opportunities to someone like Disale. According to him, it was essential for good people to enter politics.
BJP MLC Pravin Darekar remarked, "The knowledge of such people will be useful for the state and the country to move forward. But is it is unfortunate that our system is like this and the voters are also like this. They vote for those who are not teachers and ensure the defeat of teachers. Along with the system, it is our fault too. Good people should come in politics. And I will definitely ask our state president to send the recommendation to the Governor."
Stellar achievement
The Global Teacher Prize has been founded by the Varkey Foundation in 2014 to honour an exceptional teacher who has made an outstanding contribution to the profession. Disale has been instrumental in ushering in a transformation of the Zilla Parishad Primary school at Paritewadi village in Solapur. He not only translated the textbooks into the local language but also embedded them with QR codes to give students access to audio poems, video lectures, stories and assignments.
Buoyed by this initiative, the Maharashtra government in 2017 decided to introduce QR coded textbooks across the state for all grades. A year later, the Ministry of Education declared that all the NCERT textbooks would have embedded QR codes. Moreover, his interventions have reportedly resulted in 100% attendance of girls at the school and zero child marriages in the village. Disale also commenced the 'Let's Cross the Borders' project whereby he has connected thousands of young people from India and Pakistan, Palestine and Israel, Iraq and Iran, and the US and North Korea.
Published By : Akhil Oka
Published On: 5 December 2020 at 21:08 IST