President Droupadi Murmu is conferring the National Teachers Awards 2026 on 48 school teachers at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi, today, September 5, Teachers’ Day, recognising their contribution to improving school education and enriching students’ learning experiences.
The awardees include 26 men and 22 women, representing 27 states, seven Union Territories and six Central Government organisations. The Department of School Education and Literacy under the Ministry of Education said the teachers were chosen through a rigorous, transparent, three-stage online selection process involving district/regional, state/organisation and national-level scrutiny.
The ceremony is also showcasing short documentaries on each awardee, highlighting their work inside and beyond classrooms. The recognition comes as India marks Teachers’ Day on the birth anniversary of Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, with the government using the occasion to spotlight educators whose work goes beyond conventional teaching.
The event is being broadcast through Doordarshan and SWAYAM PRABHA and streamed through official government platforms and social media channels.
48 Teachers, Diverse Classrooms
The 2026 cohort reflects the wide range of India’s school education system, with teachers from government schools, PM SHRI institutions, Kendriya Vidyalayas, Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas, Eklavya Model Residential Schools, Sainik Schools, CBSE and CISCE-affiliated institutions.
Uttar Pradesh has three awardees, while Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and West Bengal have two each; the remaining represented states and Union Territories have one awardee each. Among those being recognised is Bengaluru-based Biology teacher Radha Rajesh, who uses real-life examples to make complex scientific concepts relatable.
She has used examples involving Parkinson’s disease, Lionel Messi’s childhood and Michael Schumacher’s accident to help students connect textbook biology with the world around them. “Whenever I walk into a classroom, I carry one thought with me my job is not just to explain a concept; it is to make students fall in love with the subject,” Rajesh told India Today.
Another awardee, Dr Renu Tripathi of Ghaziabad, has built her teaching around experiments, handmade models, field visits and digital learning. She also runs educational YouTube channels and has worked on initiatives aimed at bringing children who had dropped out back into education.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra teacher Kunda Jayawant Bachhav has turned more than 30 village walls into educational “Walls of Knowledge”, while also helping establish a community library, showing how learning can extend beyond the physical classroom.
From Applications to Awards
The road to the national honour began with online self-nominations invited through the Ministry of Education’s National Teachers Awards portal. According to the official timeline, nominations opened on June 15, followed by district/regional shortlisting, state or organisation-level scrutiny and evaluation by an Independent National Jury.
The jury process was scheduled for August, with final recommendations followed by approval from the Union Education Minister before awardees were informed. The Ministry describes the awards as a way of recognising teachers who demonstrate excellence, innovation and commitment in school education, rather than simply rewarding length of service.
The official award list is also explicitly not arranged in any order of merit. The ceremony has a wider significance this year as well: alongside the 48 school teachers, President Murmu is recognising 21 teachers and faculty members from higher education institutions and polytechnics, while 13 educators from the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship are also part of the broader National Awards to Teachers programme.
The President has previously emphasised the central role of educators in national development. At the 2025 National Awards to Teachers ceremony, Murmu said education is essential to a person’s dignity and security and noted that children from even the poorest backgrounds can achieve progress through the power of education. This year’s decision to screen a short documentary for each school awardee further shifts attention from the award itself to the work, students and communities behind it.
The Logical Indian’s Perspective
Teachers’ Day can easily become a once-a-year celebration of thank-you messages, greetings and social media posts. The National Teachers Awards offer an opportunity to look more closely at what meaningful teaching actually involves. The stories emerging from this year’s cohort show that education is not limited to completing a syllabus or preparing students for examinations.
It can mean using everyday stories to explain science, taking lessons into the community, creating learning material from limited resources, using technology thoughtfully or helping students who have been left behind find their way back into education. At the same time, recognition should not make us overlook the thousands of teachers who work quietly every day without national attention, often while dealing with limited resources and difficult circumstances.
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