Ranjitsinh Disale

Ranjitsinh Disale is an Indian teacher and the winner of the Global Teacher Prize 2020. This prize is considered the Nobel Prize in teaching and highlights the work of teachers who have performed brilliantly in their profession. It encourages them to follow their passion and continue doing the awesome work. Disale earned $1 million because of his contribution to the teaching profession.

Ranjitsinh Disale is well-known for his innovative teaching. He believes that learning through experiments is the best way to learn something new every day. That is the reason why Disale’s teaching method includes a series of scientific experiments. He built a science lab for his students to give them a wholesome learning experience. His new ways of teaching and passion to provide the best to students have made him receive the Global Teacher Prize. Apart from taking regular classes, he works with the World Bank as Advisor for their educational programs.

Early Life

Ranjitsinh Disale is from Paritewadi village in the Solapur district of Maharashtra. He always aimed to become an IT engineer and enrolled himself in an engineering college to realize his dream. But later, things did not fit for him and his father advised him to try teaching. After listening to his father, Disale took up the teacher’s training program. After spending a few days in his teacher training college, Disale realized that teachers are the real change-makers in the world.

Professional Life

Born on 5th August 1988, Ranjitsinh Disale is known for his innovative teaching techniques. To ensure that his students can easily access different learning materials, Disale added QR codes to primary category books. The idea behind this move was to ensure that his students can get links to audio poems, video lectures, assignments, and stories without facing any issues. Moreover, his idea of including QR codes in textbooks was adopted by the NCERT (National Council of Educational Research and Training).

Ranjitsinh Disale believes in the power of educating girl children. To encourage girl education and abolish adolescent marriages, he has campaigned multiple times in his village in Maharashtra.

Challenges Faced

When Disale started his teaching journey, he realized the problems associated with quality education in India. The first school he taught in was in a shabby building between cattle shed and a storeroom. Moreover, most of his girl students were from local tribal communities that do not give importance to girl education. Also, students faced language barriers in their schools. Ranjitsinh Disale realized that the textbooks were not available in the primary language (Kannada) of students. As a result, many of them could not read and understand the course curriculum, which impacted their overall learning outcome. To solve this problem, Disale learned Kannada and translated the textbooks into his students’ native language. He redesigned the textbooks for classes 1-4 and included a QR code in every book. This initiative solved the problem, and his students could access various learning materials from anywhere. When Ranjitsinh Disale solved this grave situation, it motivated his students. Moreover, it helped them improve their communication skills, creativity, and problem-solving abilities.

Achievements

Ranjitsinh Disale's effort made his school win the Best School of the District award in 2016. Moreover, students achieved their expected learning outcomes within a year. His work was recognized by Satya Nadella, the CEO of Microsoft. He also featured Disale's story in his book Hit Refresh. In addition, Disale also received the National Innovation Foundation’s Innovator of the Year award in 2018. To help other teachers face similar challenges, he wrote more than five hundred newspaper blogs and articles. In addition, Ranjitsinh Disale also participated in television discussions on educational topics.

Ranjitsinh Disale wants to launch an initiative for students stuck in war-affected zones of the world. His initiative will ensure that each year at least 5000 students from war-afflicted countries could join the Peace Army. He wants to use the prize money of $1 million to reach out to the maximum number of students.

Teachers like Ranjitsinh Disale are a blessing to the country. His innovative and unique way of providing education is a sigh of relief for students.

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