Teachers are ‘frontline nation-builders’, says President Murmu at awards event

President Droupadi Murmu honored teachers as "frontline nation-builders" during the National Teachers Awards event at Vigyan Bhavan. The ceremony celebrated 82 recipients, including school teachers, higher education faculty, polytechnic faculty, and skill trainers. Murmu emphasized the crucial role teachers play in fostering curiosity, character, confidence, and sensitivity in students, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds.

She highlighted the work of education pioneers such as Savitribai Phule, Rabindranath Tagore, and Utkalmani Gopabandhu Das, who expanded educational opportunities and promoted learning in natural surroundings. Tagore's Shantiniketan and Gopabandhu Das's "Van Vidyalaya" were cited as examples of this belief. This year's awardees, selected from across the country, ranged from Ladakh to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Arunachal Pradesh to Gujarat, demonstrating that many teach in village schools.

Murmu stressed the importance of recognizing teachers from various educational levels, as their teaching methods could inspire others to pursue excellence. She highlighted the significance of academic excellence, skill development, and entrepreneurship in India's development and its aim to become a "knowledge super-power" and the "skill capital of the world."

Murmu also addressed the special responsibilities of teachers towards disadvantaged students, including those from economically weaker families, first-generation learners, shy students, and those with special needs. She credited teachers for contributing to the decline in primary school dropout rates over the past 12 years. Emphasizing education's role as the foundation of a developed nation, Murmu urged teachers to ensure quality education for all students and to instill knowledge, inspiration, morality, and sensitivity in every learner.