National Awards to Teachers

The National Award to Teachers are given away by the President of India on 5th September (Teacher's Day) every year to give public recognition to meritorious teachers working in primary, middle and secondary schools. The award was instituted in 1958.

The Ministry of Education has revised the guidelines for the selection of Teachers for National Awards since 2017.

About the awards

The number of awards has been rationalized to 50 (under the earlier scheme the number of awardees had crossed 300). From 2023, the ambit of National Teachers’ Award has been expanded to include teachers of Department of Higher Education and Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship. 50 School Teachers, 13 teachers from Higher education and 12 teachers from Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship will be awarded.

The award carries a Silver Medal, Certificate and Rs.50,000/- as award money.

Eligibility

• School teachers and Heads of Schools working in recognized primary/ middle /high / higher secondary schools under the following categories:
• Schools run by State Govt. /UTs Administration, schools run by local bodies, schools aided by State Govt. and UT Administration.
• Central Govt. Schools i.e. Kendriya Vidyalayas (KVs), Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas (JNVs), Central Schools for Tibetans (CTSA), Sainik Schools run by Ministry of Defence (MoD), Schools run by Atomic Energy Education Society (AEES).
• Schools affiliated to Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) (other than those at indicated above)
• Schools affiliated to Council for Indian Schools Certificate Examination (CISCE) (Other than those indicated above)
• Normally retired teachers are not eligible for the award but those teachers who have served a part of the calendar year (at least for four months i.e. upto 30th April in the year to which National Award relates) may be considered if they fulfill all other conditions.
• Teachers whose names were recommended last year or before can be considered again if they are still otherwise eligible and are recommended by the State Government/ Union Territories.
• Educational Administrators, Inspectors of Education, and the staff of training Institutes are not eligible for these awards.
• Teacher/Headmaster should not have indulged in tuitions.
• Only regular Teachers and Heads of Schools will be eligible.
• Contractual Teachers and Shiksha Mitras will not be eligible.

Procedure for selection

Considerations to guide the selection of teachers at various levels.

Teachers will be evaluated based on an evaluation matrix that contains two types of criteria for evaluation:

1. Objective criteria: Under this the teachers will be awarded marks against each of the objective criteria. These criteria are given the weightage of 20 out of 100.
2. Performance against criteria :Under this, teachers will be awarded marks on criteria based on performance e.g. initiatives to improve learning outcomes, innovative experiments undertaken, organization of extra and co-curricular activities, use of Teaching Learning Material, social mobility, ensuring experiential learning, unique ways to ensure physical education to students etc. These criteria are given the weightage of 90 out of 100.

Evaluation Matrix for National Award to Teachers

Category B: Performance against criteria

1. All the applications would be received through an online web portal.
2. In case of State/UTs, teachers and Heads of schools themselves shall apply directly by filling the application form online through the online web portal before the prescribed cut-off date.
3. Every applicant shall submit a portfolio, online along with the Entry Form. The portfolio shall include relevant supporting material such as documents, tools, reports of activities, field visits, photographs, audios or videos etc.
4. Undertaking by the applicant: Each applicant shall give an undertaking that all the information/data submitted is true to the best of his/her knowledge and if anything is found at any later date to be untrue then he/she will be liable to disciplinary action.

The window for online submission of applications for teacher awards is generally June to July of every year. 

First level scrutiny will be done by District Selection Committee (DSC) headed by the District Education Officer. After the detailed evaluation of the applications, DSC will shortlist 3 names and forward these to State Selection Committee through online portal along with vigilance clearance certificate of each of the 3 applicants.

The State Selection Committee (SSC) will be headed by Principal Secretary/ Secretary of State Education Department. The SSC will evaluate all the nominations and prepare shortlist of the best candidates, subject to the maximum number allotted to the States/UTs and forward the same to Independent Jury at National level through online portal.

The Independent Jury at National Level headed and chaired by any of the experienced members of the Jury, as may be selected by the Education Minister would review the list of candidates as forwarded by all the SSCs and OSCs and carry out fresh assessment.

For the complete guidelines of the award, click here.

List of award winners

To get the year-wise and category-wise list of awardees, click here.

Source : Ministry of Education