UniApply’s Teacher Excellence Awards 2021

Teachers are the backbone of any educational system. To impart quality education, teachers have to continue evolving with time. The year 2020 came with many ups and downs and we are still trying to get a hold of everything. A drastic shift to online learning has impacted not only students and parents but teachers as well. No doubt, the digitization of education was an utmost priority for any nation however, Covid-19 fast-forwarded this process by many years. 

The Challenges of Online Teaching and Learning

Shifting from blackboards to Zoom and Google Meet wasn’t an easy task for students and teachers. We faced many challenges such as the absence of reliable internet access and very little or no knowledge of technology. This was the time when many of our teachers themselves became learners. With schools gates being closed, several video conferencing apps like Zoom, Google Classrooms, GoTo Meeting, etc became our only alternative to not let the pandemic stop students from learning and growing. Despite the challenges and health crisis in India, teachers enabled themselves to become a part of this fast-changing technology-enabled teaching universe. They kept their health condition and personal life at stake to ensure continuous learning of their students. We seldom realise how difficult it is to smile and teach in front of thirty to forty students in a new technological way when we are surrounded by challenging health crises. 

What Led to the Idea of the Teacher Excellence Awards 2021?

After the abrupt advent of the Covid-19 crisis, we realised how the pandemic has affected the education sector. From back to back lockdowns to switching to the online mode of learning and teaching, our students and parents have gone through a drastic technological change and adaptivity. To ensure a seamless learning experience, the onus of continuing education amidst the pandemic came on our teachers. Our Super Teacher, through their continuous efforts and hard work, ensured to keep learning and teaching a continuous process. Keeping this in mind, more than a month ago, we came up with an initiative to recognize and felicitate the efforts of our teachers. Our team decided to call it UniApply’s Teacher Excellence Awards 2021 and later on The Times of India also joined us in this initiative. 

While addressing the event, Vikram Shah, the Chief Business Officer at NoPaperForms said, “during the last 12 months, we got to learn a lot of stories through our Super Gurus who have gone the extra mile in terms of creating an environment so that they can teach online. Some teachers had to spend money from their own salary to buy instruments to teach online. So, we felt if we can launch something like a Teacher Excellence Awards which can help us as a society to recognize teachers who have gone the extra mile, not only in adopting the technology but actually using that technology to impart learning”. 

As we realised the efforts of our teachers in enabling students to study even in the pandemic stuck world, we got inspired to appreciate them. While running our Super Guru initiative on our social media handles, we got to know the personal experiences of our teachers and how they are trying to meet the challenges and learn technological advancement within less time. This was the reason for launching UniApply’s Teacher Excellence Awards 2021, powered by The Times of India. 

What is UniApply’s Teacher Excellence Awards 2021? 

On 5th September 2021 (Sunday), in the presence of Shri Anurag Tripathi (Secretary, CBSE) and Dr Biswajit Saha (Director, Training & Skill Education, CBSE) as our keynote speakers, UniApply presented one of its kind, the Teacher Excellence Awards 2021, powered by The Times of India.

We received 3100+ nominations and the jury shortlisted 42 winners in 22 different subject categories along with 12 special Jury Awards. The winners’ immense contribution in making learning fun and continuous even during the pandemic has inspired us a lot. We appreciate their ongoing dedication to evolve with time and adapt to the current situation while using technology as much as possible in teaching your students.

To Watch the Full Coverage of the Award Ceremony 2021: 

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List of the Winners 

As mentioned by Mahesh Sarma, Mentor, NoPaperForms, the selection criteria for the winners was divided into four subpoints. Along with adapting to technology, the jury focused on the following points while shortlisting the nominations:

• How has the use of technology in teaching by the teacher impacted the child?
• Did the child receive the technology in the same manner?
• Did technology have a mitigating impact on the child?
• Did it have a supplementary impact in their development or did it complement what they were doing earlier in offline mode?

Here is the list of winners of the Teacher Excellence Awards 2021, powered by The Times of India across different categories in Delhi NCR and Maharashtra. We congratulate all the winners. Their immense contribution in making learning fun and continuous even during the pandemic has inspired us a lot. 

Winners of the Teacher Excellence Awards 2021 across different subject categories in Delhi NCR

Category: Best Teacher in Political Science

Name: Ms. Alka Chawla

School: Maxfort School Dwarka, New Delhi

Category: Best Teacher in Accountancy 

Name: Mr. Gaurav Palia

School: DAV Centenary Public School, New Delhi

Category: Best Teacher in Geography

Name: Ms. Jabita Sehgal

School: Bharti Public School, Swasthya Vihar, New Delhi

Category: Best Teacher in Physics

Name: Ms. Monika Sindhwani

School: Bal Bharti Public School, Rohini, Delhi

Category: Best Teacher in Business Studies

Name: Ms. Sangeeta

School: The Mann School, Holambi Khurd, Delhi

Category: Best Teacher in Physical Education

Name: Ms. Rashmi Sagar

School: GD Goenka Public School, Dwarka, Delhi

Category: Best Teacher in Special Education

Name: Ms. Shailaja Raghavendra

School: Kunskapsskolan International, Gurgaon

Category: Best Primary Class Teacher

Name: Ms. Smriti Chandra

School: Ahlcon International School, New Delhi

Category: Best Pre-primary Class Teacher

Name: Ms. Gunjan Sharma

School: Manav Rachna International School, Charmwood, Faridabad

Category: Best Teacher in English

Name: Ms. Neelam Saxena

School: Salwan Public School, Gurgaon

Category: Best Teacher in Economics

Name: Ms. Sweety Bakshi

School: Mira Model School, Delhi

Category: Best Teacher in Art and Craft

Name: Mr. Nirmalya Banerjee

School: Bal Bharati Public School, Delhi

Category: Best Teacher in Chemistry

Name: Ms. Deepti Gupta

School: Sanskriti School, Delhi

Category: Best Teacher in Biology

Name: Ms. Manpreet Kaur

School: Modern School, Barakhamba, Delhi

Category: Best Teacher in Social Science

Name: Ms. Garima Joshi

School: Kothari International School, Noida

Category: Best Teacher in History

Name: Ms. Mansi Malkotia

School: Bal Bhavan Public School, Mayur Vihar, Delhi

Category: Best Teacher in Mathematics

Name: Ms. Geetika Datta

School: DAV Public School, Sec-14, Gurugram

Category: Best Teacher in Science

Name: Ms. Sucheeta Pall

School: St. Columba’s School, Ashok Place, Delhi

Category: Best Teacher in Computer Studies

Name: Ms. Varsha Sigtia

School: Lancers Convent Sr Secondary school, Delhi

Category: Best Teacher in Music & Dance

Name: Ms. Shalini Gupta

School: Modern Convent School, Dwarka, Delhi

Category: Best Teacher in Hindi

Name: Ms. Krishana Dixit

School: Columbia Foundation School, Delhi

Honorable Jury Awards for Delhi NCR

Category: Best Teacher in English (Jury Award)

Name: Ms. Parita Chawla

School: Modern Convent School, Dwarka, Delhi

Category: Best Teacher in Computer Studies (Jury Award)

Name: Ms. Neetu Dhiman

School: Vega School, Gurugram

Category: Best Teacher in Political Science (Jury Award)

Name: Ms. Dipti Chawla

School: Kothari International School, Noida

Category: Best Teacher In Art and Craft (Jury Award)

Name: Ms. Manisha Verma

School: Vega Schools, Gurugram

Category: Best Teacher in Mathematics (Jury Award)

Name: Ms. Ritu Dheman

School: Delhi Public School, Greater Noida

Category: Best Teacher in Hindi (Jury Award)

Name: Dr. Savita Upadhyay

School: Salwan Public School, Gurugram 

Winners of the Teacher Excellence Awards 2021 across different subject categories in Maharashtra

Category: Best Teacher in Accountancy 

Name: Ms. Anita Kaul

School: Boston World School, Pune

Category: Best Teacher in Geography

Name: Ms. Hemali Madan

School: Educon International School, Pune

Category: Best Teacher in Physics

Name: Ms. Lalitha Vivek Bhat

School: Thakur College of Science And Commerce, Mumbai

Category: Best Teacher in Business Studies

Name: Mr. Nitin Dhareshwar

School: JBCN International School, Oshiwara, Mumbai

Category: Best Teacher in Physical Education

Name: Mr. Mukund Singh Negi

School: St. Francis De Sales School, Pune

Category: Best Teacher in Special Education

Name: Ms. Rudri Joshi

School: The Gateway School of Mumbai, Mumbai

Category: Best Primary Class Teacher

Name: Ms. Mrunalini Ganesh Jamdade, 

School: Oxford World School, Pune

Category: Best Pre-primary Class Teacher

Name: Ms. Serene Wentzel

School: JBCN International School, Oshiwara, Mumbai

Category: Best Teacher in English

Name: Ms. Mukta Nikhil Kelkar

School: S.P.M. Public English Medium School, Pune

Category: Best Teacher in Economics

Name: Ms. N.S.Lakshmi Sengupta

School: Bombay Scottish School, Mumbai

Category: Best Teacher in Art and Craft

Name: Mr. Dilip Tukaram Pawar

School: Pawar Public School, Hadapsar, Pune

Category: Best Teacher in Chemistry

Name: Ms. Zainab Mustafa Mala

School: Diamond Jubilee High School, Mumbai

Category: Best Teacher in Biology

Name: Ms. Bhavana Ketul Sutaria Shah

School: C M International School, Pune

Category: Best Teacher in History

Name: Ms. Jayvanti Pundalik Pawar

School: Global Indian International School, Pune

Category: Best Teacher in Mathematics

Name: Ms. Vaishali Baban Andraskar

School: Pawar Public School, Nanded City, Pune

Category: Best Teacher in Science

Name: Mr. Riyaz Ahemad Jafar Shah

School: Iqra Urdu High School, Salar Nagar, Jalgaon

Category: Best Teacher in Computer Studies

Name: Ms. Archana Suvarna

School: Pawar Public School, Bhandup, Mumbai

Category: Best Teacher in Marathi

Name: Ms. Harshada Pandurang Kasle 

School: Mahapragya Public School, Mumbai

Category: Best Teacher in Music & Dance

Name: Ms. Sharda Milind Shelukar

School: Little Wonders International School, Nasik

Category: Best Teacher in Hindi

Name: Ms. Samina Khan

School: Diamond Jubilee ICSE School, Mazgaon

Honorable Jury Awards for Maharashtra

Category: Best Pre-primary Class Teacher (Jury Award)

Name: Ms. Smita Golia

School: Little Angels International School, Mumbai

Category: Best Teacher in English (Jury Award)

Name: Mr. Abhinandan Bhattacharya

School: JBCN International School, Oshiwara, Mumbai

Category: Best Teacher In History (Jury Award)

Name: Ms. Nandini Krishna

School: JBCN International School, Oshiwara, Mumbai

Category: Best Teacher in Science (Jury Award)

Name: Ms. Anjana Pramod 

School: Shri Ramkrishna Education Foundations Seth Nandlal Dhoot English Medium School, Ahmednagar

Conclusion

With the Teacher Excellence Awards 2021, we aimed to appreciate the teachers’ unwavering contribution to the education system. From troubleshooting digital tools for parents to attending parent-teacher calls, our teachers have put students above their own families and children. We seldom forget that these teachers put a lot of effort into providing us with better education. To show our gratitude we came up with this initiative and appreciate the super teachers of our society.

We are thankful to those teachers who participated in this event and helped us make it a huge success.