Indian educator wins US$1 million Global Teacher Prize for transforming girls’ lives

Ranjitsinh Disale introduced digital learning tools and personalised programmes at his poor rural school, raising attendance to 100 per cent

After the award was announced virtually by Stephen Fry, the teacher said he would share the prize money with the nine other finalists

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Indian village teacher Ranjitsinh Disale reacts with family members after winning the Global Teacher Prize 2020. Photo: Reuters

Published: 8:00am, 4 Dec 2020Updated: 8:00am, 4 Dec 2020

This year’s Global Teacher Prize has been awarded to Ranjitsinh Disale for his work helping girls, most of them from poor tribal communities, at a village school in western India.

Disale immediately announced he would share half the US$1 million prize money with the nine other finalists.

He was selected from 12,000 nominations from over 140 countries around the world, and was honoured for having “transformed the life chances” of girls at the Zilla Parishad Primary School in Paritewadi, in Maharashtra state, prize organisers said.

The announcement was made by actor and writer Stephen Fry at a virtual ceremony broadcast from the Natural History Museum in London. A jubilant Disale heard the news at home in India, surrounded by his family.

Stephen Fry appears on screen during a video call with Indian village teacher Ranjitsinh Disale, who was surrounded by family members. Photo: Reuters

He started teaching at the school in 2009, when it was in a rundown building next to a cattle shed, according to organisers. School attendance was low and teenage marriage common.