Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan congratulated Solapur ZP School teacher Ranjitsinh Disale who has been chosen for the coveted one million dollars Global Teacher Prize 2020.

Taking to the microblogging site, Chouhan tweeted, "Heartfelt congratulations to the #GlobalTeacherPrize awardee #Ranjitsinh_Disale for promoting education among daughters with the help of QR coded textbooks and modern technology! The country and the world are proud of teachers like you. Keep contributing for the formation of the society in this way, good luck!"

Ranjitsinh Disale, a teacher at the Zilla Parishad (ZP) school in Paritewadi, Solapur, Maharashtra, won the Global Teacher Prize 2020 on Thursday. Disale, 32, was selected from over 12,000 applicants and nominees from 140 approximately countries.

The Global Teacher Prize, in partnership with UNESCO, is a US $1 million award presented annually by the Varkey Foundation, London, to an exceptional teacher who has made an outstanding contribution to the profession. Disale was the only teacher from India to make it to the top 10 finalists, consisting of teachers from Italy, Brazil, Vietnam, United Kingdom, South Korea, USA, South Africa, Nigeria and Malaysia.

In his winning speech, Disale announced he would share half the prize money with the other nine finalists (they will get over US$55,000 each). This is the first time in the Global Teacher Prize’s six-year history that the overall winner has shared the prize money with other finalists.

"The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed education and the communities it serves in a multitude of ways. But in this hard time, teachers are giving their best to make sure every student has access to their birthright of a good education," said Disale.

"Teachers are the real change-makers who are changing the lives of their students with a mixture of chalk and challenges. They always believe in giving and sharing. And, therefore, I am very pleased to announce that I will share 50 per cent of the prize money equally among my fellow top 10 finalists to support their incredible work. I believe, together, we can change this world because sharing is growing," he said.

His generous gesture means the other nine finalists will receive just over USD 55,000 each as he made history as the first winner to share his prize money.