Two Bengal teachers win National Teachers’ Award for innovation
Times of India | 23 August 2026
Kolkata: Two teachers — Shantanu Patra, a geography teacher at Government Model School in Jhargram, and Palash Chowdhury, headmaster of Sree Ramkrishna Sarada Vidyapith Primary School in Burdwan — have been selected from Bengal for National Teachers’ Award. They will receive the award from President Droupadi Murmu on Sept 5 in New Delhi.
Patra, who has taught at the Jhargram school for eight years, developed a pedagogy integrating technology, nature and culture. He established three stations in his classroom: a digital station for AI-generated subject videos and online quizzes, a discussion station to clear doubts, and a creation station to build charts and models. He also incorporated folk festivals centred on nature into student presentations and digitised report cards.
“We face several limitations as many students come from tribal communities and disadvantaged backgrounds,” Patra said. “Despite these constraints, I strive to give them a platform to experience modern learning systems. I am glad this effort is being recognized.”
Chowdhury digitised operations at his Burdwan primary school by introducing a mobile app to send parents regular class updates.
“As far as I know, we are the first state school to create a dedicated app for daily updates. We track learning gaps and teach children according to their individual needs. Everything in our school is maintained online,” Chowdhury said.
He also introduced a breakfast programme for students, funding it out of his salary and contributions from a colleague.
“The breakfast initiative costs Rs 60,000, which another teacher and I fund because student health is our priority,” Chowdhury said. “This honour belongs not just to me, but to all our teachers, staff, students and parents.”