Port Blair Sept. 5: Together with the rest of the country, Teachers’ Day was celebrated with great enthusiasm throughout these Islands today, to mark the birth anniversary of Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, the 2nd President of India. To celebrate the occasion, a state level function was organized by the Directorate of Education, in the auditorium of Tagore Government College of Education (TGCE) here this evening. The Commissioner–cum-Secretary (Education), A&N Administration, Shri Nikhil Kumar was the chief guest of the function. At the outset, the chief guest garlanded the portrait of Dr. S. Radhakrishnan and was followed by floral tributes by others.
Addressing the teaching fraternity, the Commissioner–cum-Secretary greeted the teachers on the occasion. He said, teachers are the builders of the society and the nation and this day, provides the society an opportunity to express gratitude to them for their noble service and recognize their contribution. Teachers can play a catalytic role in shaping a vibrant, strong and resilient India- making it a proud ‘Atma Nirbhar Bharat’, he remarked.
The Commissioner–cum-Secretary appreciated the initiative of the Education Department in preparing ‘Vidya Pravesh’, a 3-month play based module for the kids entering grade-1, which would prepare them for schooling in a joyful manner. He also lauded the Department for the implementation of PAHAL (Plan for Attaining Holistic Learning & Achieving Learning Outcomes), which will help teachers in assessing their students. He also appreciated the teachers for revamping the pre-primary classes according to BALA (Building As Learning Aids). He congratulated the teachers of the Islands for their contribution in overcoming the learning gaps during the COVID-19 pandemic by conducting online mode of teaching and introducing innovative pedagogies which kept the students engaged in uninterrupted teaching learning process.
Showering praises on teachers, he said, “It is the hard work of our teachers which enabled our students to come out with flying colours in the CBSE exams”. Our teachers are in the forefront in implementing the guidelines of NEP-2020 and concentrating more on child centric, activity based teaching, said the Commissioner–cum-Secretary and urged them to continue to work hard and become an inspiration for other teachers.
The Commissioner–cum-Secretary congratulated Shri Ranjan Kumar Biswas, PSRT, GSSS Bambooflat for being bestowed with the National Award for Teachers-2022. He also felicitated teachers with Andaman & Nicobar Teachers Award for their contribution in the field of education. The recipients of the awards were Shri K. S Sunish, PST and Kalluri Ravi, GTT, both from GSSS Haddo(Telugu), Harikamal Debnath, PST, GSSS Kishorinagar, Harikrishna Halder, GTT, GSSS Diglipur, Tiberies, GTT, GSS, Arong, Car Nicobar and Nicolas, PGT, GSSS Sawai, Car Nicobar.
Earlier, in her welcome address, Secretary (Education), Ms. Veditha Reddy wished the entire teaching fraternity a Happy ‘Teachers’ Day’. She informed that A&N Islands’ which is having approximately 417 schools both Govt. & Private are one of the best in most of the parameters of GoI. A&N Islands is probably one of the only regions in the Country, which provides education in 5 medium of instructions i.e. English, Hindi, Bengali, Tamil and Telugu. Education is provided to approximately 74,000 students and with the teaching staff of approximately 4000, the Department is striving to do the best even in the remotest Islands, she added.
Colourful cultural programme were presented by the teachers of the Education Department on the occasion. The dance & song highlighting the aims and objective of the National Education Policy-2020 impressed one and all present in the auditorium.
The function concluded with the vote of thanks proposed by the Director Education, Shri Aditya Kumar Jha.