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Banka principal to get national award

PATNA: Pappu Harijan (48), the principal of Upgraded Middle School at Kulhariya in Banka district, has been selected for the prestigious ‘National Award to Teachers 2018’, to be presented at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi on the Teachers’ Day on September 5.

State education department had recommended six teachers for the award.

After several rounds of interview session and presentation, Harijan was selected.

With the help of locals, Harijan set up smart class at the school. “With the help of smart class, teachers are able to make students understand lessons in a better way. We train teachers about operating the system. Right now, we have only one smart classroom. But I will use the prize money that I get from MHRD on setting up two more smart classes,” he told this newspaper on Wednesday.

Harijan will be honoured with a silver medal, cash prize of Rs50,000 and a merit certificate for his selfless contribution towards schools and for active inclusion of kids with special needs in the school. “Presently, we have 14 kids with disabilities at our school. For them, we also hired special trainer and physiotherapist. We have separate toilet for them,” the principal said.

In 2016, the school had won ‘Swachch Vidyalaya Puraskar’ from the state government. “Teachers at school give special emphasis on sanitation and cleanliness. We organize camps and make human chains on sanitation awareness at regular intervals. Apart from this, we also planted saplings at our schools and most of the isolated areas on the campus are covered in green,” he said.

Harijan, who hails from Bhagalpur, was made the principal in December 2012. “When I joined this school, there were only four rooms, four teachers and 293 students. The school building has now ten rooms,” he said and added: “Presently, we have 486 students and seven teachers for all subjects, except mathematics and science. I taught science while another teacher takes mathematics class.”

He has also applied to the district education officer to upgrade it to high school. “We have the infrastructure. This award will be a boost for our school and I will work harder to provide good education to kids,” he said.

Meanwhile, not a single teacher from state has been selected for CBSE award. The list was released on August 23.

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