Teacher’s day: Guv honours 5 women teachers

Five women teachers received the State Teachers’ Award from Governor Shiv Pratap Shukla, along with 22 men teachers, here today. Considering that women teachers are nearly 50 per cent of the total teaching staff in government schools, which is around 80,000, the number of women teachers selected for the award is still quite low. On a positive note, the number of women teachers getting the award is higher in the last couple of years.

Out of the five women awardees, two are from hard and tribal areas. One teacher has been picked under the Special Award category. The women awardees said they had not applied for the award last year but this time they felt the selection process was transparent. So, more women teachers applied this time and, as a result, there were more women awardees, they said.

Kanta Sharma, a JBT teacher, said the new additions to the selection process such as spot evaluation of the students and presentation by the teachers on their work before a panel had made the process fair and transparent.

“Finally, there is an interview with the Education Secretary. These measures have given the confidence to the teachers that the selection for the award would be done on merit,” she said. Virender Chauhan, president of State Teachers’ Association, said the changes to the selection process were good and it would ensure fair selections for the award.