National Teachers Award: Pramod Shukla, teaching Tribal children from Bastar through innovative approach

Pramod Kumar Shukla made an innovative experiment of getting English text-based drama staged once a week to remove the fear of English from tribal children’s mind.

Pramod Kumar Shukla, a teacher from Chhattisgarh was among the 44 teachers honoured with the National Awards on the occasion of Teachers Day by the President of India. However, Shukla is the only teacher from 366 Eklavya Model Residential School operating in the country.

Pramod Shukla teaches English language and other communication skills to children at Eklavya Model Residential School, Karpawand, located in Naxal infested Bastar districts of Chhattisgarh, which is also one of most backward districts in the country.

The only teacher from 366 Eklavya Model Residential School operating in the country and from Chhattisgarh, Pramod Kumar Shukla, has been honoured by the President's Award on the occasion of Teacher's Day this year.

He helped tribal students to develop good capabilities in English. He worked to improve the scholastic and co-scholastic achievements of tribal students in the school.

Removing fear of English

In an innovative approach of teaching English to tribal children, Pramod Kumar Shukla made an innovative experiment of getting English text-based drama staged once a week in and around the school to remove the fear of English from the minds of children. During this, the students were given the freedom to express themselves so that the fear of speaking English could be removed from their minds.

The experiment has borne fruits and has resulted in improvement of English subject result of the students of the institution.

Shukla who holds a PhD has also published more than 15 research papers of his experiments in various national and international level research journals till now and has also written three books based on his teaching experience.

Tribal students winning accolades

Shukla is not just using innovative methods of teaching, but to provide students with exposure and skills he gets them to interact with teachers and students of other schools colleges and universities. As a nodal officer, he also got the interaction program and online guidance of students from far-flung areas of Bastar with experts from institutions like Central University Lucknow, Bastar University.

As a result, for the first time from a remote district like Bastar, 145 students were selected for the Inspire Award by the National Selection Committee and all were awarded an amount of Rs 10,000.

Pramod Shukla also helps students prepare for various competitive examinations and due to his efforts, the participation of students in competitive examinations like the National Merit cum Means Scholarship Examination, Science Quiz Competition organized by SCERT, NTSE, KUPY have gone up from Bastar district. So far 69 students have been selected for these competitive examinations.

While honouring Shukla, President of India Ramnath Kovind said: “The primary responsibility of combining the inherent talents of the students lies with the teachers; a good teacher is a personality-builder, a society-builder, and a nation-builder.”

President Kovind was speaking at a virtual award ceremony on the occasion of Teachers’ Day wherein 44 teachers from across the country were honoured with the National Awards.

The President congratulated all the teachers who received the award for their distinguished contributions. He said that such teachers strengthen his belief that the future generation is safe in the hands of our well-qualified teachers. He said that teachers have a very important place in everyone's life. People remember their teachers life-long. Teachers who nurture their students with affection and devotion always get respect from their students.

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