Maharashtra Education Minister Varsha Gaikwad on Saturday said she has instructed the local authorities to clear the leave application of Global Teacher Prize 2020 winner Ranjit Disale for further studies.
The minister said she has spoken to Dilip Swami, the chief executive officer of Solapur Zilla Parishad, on the issue.
"Have directed that the leave application be approved. The department believes in continued education for not just students but also teachers," Gaikwad tweeted.
Disale, a Zilla Parishad teacher, thanked the minister for her intervention.
The award-winning teacher said he was happy that he will not miss the opportunity of availing the Fulbright DAI scholarship sponsored by the US.
Disale had sought six months leave from the Solapur district education department to pursue PhD in the US, and had complained that the leave was being denied to him and he was planning to quit his job.
The primary school teacher at Paritewadi village in the district was selected for the scholarship for 2021-22.
Who is Ranjit Disale?
Disale, a teacher at the Zilla Parishad (ZP) school in Paritewadi, Solapur, Maharashtra, had won the Global Teacher Prize in 2020.
Among his many contributions, Disale worked on creating a QR code for every lesson in the textbooks of Classes 1 to 12. Disale had said, "This QR code is printed in textbooks, where students can scan it using a smartphone and access explanatory videos, audio tutorials, questions, homework and assignments. It is an easy way of self-study and helps students understand difficult concepts at home."
Disale had translated the class textbooks in his pupils’ mother tongue and embedded them with unique QR codes to give students access to audio poems, video lectures, stories and assignments. Crucially, by analysing their reflections, he would change the content, activities and assignments in the QR coded textbooks, to create a personalised learning experience for each student.
According to the globalteacherprize.org, the impact of Disale's interventions has been extraordinary. The school was also awarded the best school in the district, with 85 per cent of his students achieving A grades in annual exams that year.
(With PTI inputs)
