INNOVATING SKILLS, INSPIRING MINDS!

Mustafa Kamal Ataturk once said, "A good teacher is like a candle - it consumes
itself to light the way for others." More than a profession teaching is a supreme art
to be developed and practiced to awaken joy in the creative expression of
knowledge. This same knowledge was applied by a primary school teacher of Zilla
Parishad named Ranjitsinh Disale from tiny Paritewadi village in Solapur district who
initiated his career at a school sandwiched between cattle shed and storeroom but
the metamorphic time went on to spark the QR coded textbook revolution in India.
One small invention which made an outstanding contribution to the education
system of the world.

A thinking process of a man from a village is up to the limit and so was of him. He
decided to be an IT engineer and had enrolled in an engineering college but when
things didn't fit for him and his father convinced him to pursue his career as a
teacher. While Disale was initially reluctant about the decision, his time at the
college of teacher training made him realize that teachers are those who possess
the capacity to change a delinquent into a solid citizen.

We all know the Indian Education system is broken in its way but as Gandhi said "Be
the change you want to see in the world.", so did he. Only a few from the millions
want to do something to change the system and the same was his dream. After
getting a job in Zilla Parishad in 2009 he was exposed to India's broken education
system with a school that was already decrypted. Only 56% of Indian Government
schools have electricity, with a student-to-teacher ratio so adverse that India's
ranking is 36th from the bottom. This does not bode well for a country whose half of
the population is less than the age of 25 years. The blunder also lies in the low
attendance with few male students as a majority.

This huge problem was resolved through our everyday gadget - the mobile phone.
What students want is entertainment and we aspire to give is education. He tried is
to entertain students through education by putting a QR code system on textbooks
to help students to understand the syllabus in an audio-video manner. This not only
helps them to visualize but also remember and understand for a long time. Students
can scan these QR codes and get the respective experiments, poems, stories, etc in a
visual manner that satisfies them curiously to learn new things. His idea of adding
QR codes into textbook which was adopted by National Council of Educational
Research and Training and in 2017 Maharashtra government had started printing
textbooks with QR code. Not only this but Microsoft CEO, Satya Nadella has praised
Disale's work in his book 'Hit Refresh'. From 'Innovative researcher of the year
award in 2016 by the government of India to 'Innovator of the year' in 2018 by the
National Innovation Foundation, he proved that the best way to predict the future
of the education system is to invent it not just to acknowledge it.

Disale is also renowned for his innovative teaching perspectives, which also includes
his demonstrations of various experiments from the science lab built by him. He
would conduct science experiments in a home science lab and would show this to
students via video call. He proved very well that technology can be used to fill an
infrastructure gap. Ranjit Sir always stands for girl empowerment and the first step
for it is of course education. He has worked towards eradicating teenage marriages
in his village and promoting girl's education. This major step towards mankind had
brought him to the prestigious award of "Global Teacher prize 2020". He had not
only made history by winning the 1 million USD Global Teacher Prize but by deciding
to share half of his money with his nine fellow finalists to support their Incredible
work. He believed together we can change the world because sharing is growing.

Our ears often hear that teacher are selfless Disale had again proved it. He used
leftover money to start the 'Teachers Innovation Fund' to help students bring
creative solutions to their problems. He didn't want to come forward as a single
Disale but was working to make enormous Disale's to make more identities. He
aspired to level up students by the teachers as per their level. 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 birth right of a good education," said Disale as per PTI.
 On another side in lockdown, we had already come across the news of harassing
teachers through zoom, abusive posts during online classes, mute yourself is the
new keep quiet and whatnot. Think once maybe not all teachers can do inventions
but definitely work for development by adopting new technologies although by
zoom, Google or WebEx. Once in your life some words of teacher may come across
to heal you so why didn't we respect their techniques to heal the deep injury caused
to our Indian Education System. Ranjitsinh Disale had not only set an example of
compassion in action but worked to build more peaceful and just societies.

He was right in his saying “Only tech can remove mismatches in education.”
Children must be taught how to think rather than what to think and technology is
the tool to innovate minds to be insightful, to inspire and integrate youth for
transforming lives through the most essential need – EDUCATION.

ARTICLE BY:
Sanjana Shiodas Wadhankar
sanjanawadhankar@gmail.com