The fourth annual Tata Consultancy Services-EducationWorld Teachers Awards 2008 attracted 18,000 nominations from 2,500 schools across the country. At a meticulously planned awards ceremony staged in Lucknow, the eight finalists — all women —were showered with cash awards, certificates and mementos. Summiya Yasmeen reports A mix of emotions — hope, excitement, optimism, anxiety and joy — pervaded the charged atmosphere of the sprawling Crystal Room of the Taj Residency Hotel, Lucknow, where 178 teachers from 53 schools in the city convened for a ‘Learning by Discovery’ workshop and the Tata Consultancy Services-EducationWorld Teachers Awards 2008, on November 18. Eight primary and secondary school teachers from across the country, were invited (all-expenses paid) to the city of nawabs for the final round of interviews, to determine who among the 18,000 teachers nominated by 2,500 schools countrywide, would be selected India’s most innovative primary and secondary teachers. The four primary and equal number of secondary school teachers from seven cities had been short-listed on the basis of essays outlining their classroom innovations. Following grueling 40 minute interviews with a three-judge panel — comprising Mala Ramadorai, former vice principal of the Bombay International School; Neena Paul, assistant vice-president IL&FS-ETS and Dilip Thakore, publisher-editor of EducationWorld — the results were announced and the crowded ballroom exploded into applause. Nomita Roy, head of the junior school science faculty of the Vasant Valley School, Delhi, was adjudged the country’s most innovative primary school teacher and Indrani Singh, principal of ADLS Sunshine School, Jamshedpur, the most innovative in the secondary category. Instituted in 2005 by the Mumbai-based Tata Consultancy Services (revenue: Rs.28,500 crore in fiscal 2007-08), India’s largest IT services company with 119,000 employees in 42 countries worldwide, and EducationWorld, India’s pioneer education news and analysis magazine (estb.1999), the annual TCS-EW Awards encourage and inspire teachers to innovate new practices and pedagogies, to make learning joyful and improve learning outcomes. “As a company which highly values business and technology innovations, it’s our privilege to honour teachers who are pioneering innovations in the nation’s classrooms. Together with EducationWorld, we are happy to provide teachers the opportunity to showcase and share their best practices with teachers countrywide,” said S. Ramadorai, the Mumbai-based chief executive and managing director of the globe-girdling TCS, in a special message sent to the convocation, which he was unable to attend due to unforeseen business reasons. At the meticulously planned awards ceremony staged in Lucknow, where TCS recently inaugurated a spanking new seven-storey 127,000 sq. ft. office, the eight finalists — all women — were showered with cash awards, certificates and mementos. Best teachers Nomita Roy (primary) and Indrani Singh (secondary) were presented state-of-the-art laptop computers in addition to cheques of Rs.10,000, which were also awarded to the other six finalists. Moreover, all finalists were awarded specially commissioned TCS-EW silver and acrylic embossed trophies. The process of selecting India’s most innovative school teachers began with repeated advertising of the awards in EducationWorld, and a poster campaign in schools across the country. The advertisements/posters invited all involved with…
