Manoj Kumar Singh, a mathematics teacher from Jamshedpur, is the sole recipient from Jharkhand of the National Award to Teachers 2021 to be presented on Teachers’ Day on Sunday.
Altogether 15 teachers from eastern and northeastern states have been selected for the coveted award which will be given by President Ram Nath Kovind through a webinar due to the Covid pandemic. The award carries a medal, a certificate and Rs 50,000.
The teachers from eastern states include Haridas Sharma (Ramgarh, Bhabua) and Chandana Dutta (Rajnagar, Madhubani), both from Bihar, Ashok Kumar Satpathy (Bhadrak) and Ajit Kumar Sethy (Chatrapur, Ganjam), both from Odisha, and Hariswami Das (head teacher of Sovanagar High School, English Bazar, Malda, Bengal).
Teachers from northeastern states who will receive the awards are Duda Sora (West Siang, Arunachal Pradesh), Swedesunuo Zao (Kohima, Nagaland), Ningmareo Shimray (Ukhrul, Manipur), Prem Das Chhetri (Gangtok, Sikkim), Mingma Sherpa (North Sikkim), Jacinta Vanlalengzami (Serchhip, Mizoram), Sib Sankar Pal (West Tripura), and Kangkan Kishor Dutta (East Jorhat) and Binanda Swargiary (Baksa), both from Assam.
Expressing happiness, 49-year-old Manoj, a resident of Adityapur who is deputed as a mathematics and science teacher at Hindustan Mitra Mandal Middle School in Golmuri, Jamshedpur, attributed his selection for the award to his passion to teach complex mathematical concepts through innovative practical and art-based pedagogy mostly done outside the boundaries of classroom.
“Students in state-owned schools are not that well versed in English to understand the concepts of mathematics, especially complex theorems and formulae. For the last one decade, I have devised my own art-based pedagogy with focus on ‘learning by doing’ concept to teach students hailing from poorer strata without good language skills the concept of mathematics. I can proudly say that most of the students in the schools I have been deputed have fetched good marks in mathematics at the matric level,” said Manoj, who conducts online teaching through his YouTube channel — Creative Learning with Manoj.
Manoj is also a part of the e-content developer team of the Jharkhand Council of Education Research and Training (JCERT) who created online content for mathematics during the pandemic through the Digi School app. He has converted one room in his house into a classroom, in which all the necessary digital equipment like computer, camera, tripod stand, microphone, headphones and a big LED screen with a whiteboard, are available.
“I live in a two-bedroom house but had to do this for the sake of my YouTube channel and also for imparting education through the Digi Sath app to students,” said Manoj.
The e-content created by Manoj is broadcast continuously from the portal of Digi School. The Digi School app has been created by the state education department and JCERT for online learning of students from Classes I to XII.
