Govt Teachers can send entries directly for National Award

Govt Teachers can send entries directly for National Award

New Delhi-The Ministry of HRD has issued fresh guidelines for Selection of Teachers for National Awards. Teachers of Government schools can now send their entries directly for National Award for Teachers. This is a new initiative, as earlier entries were selected by the State Government.  The purpose of National Award to Teachers is to celebrate the unique contribution of some of the finest teachers in the country and to honor those teachers, who through their commitment have not only improved the quality of school education but also enriched the lives of their students.

1. Conditions of Eligibility of Teachers for consideration for the Awards:
2. School teachers and Heads of Schools working in recognized primary/ middle /high / higher secondary schools under the following categories:
3. Schools run by State Govt. /UTs Administration, schools run by local bodies, schools aided by State Govt. and UT Administration.
4. Central Govt. Schools i.e. Kendriya Vidyalayas (KVs), Jawahar Navodaya     Vidyalayas (JNVs), Central Schools for Tibetans (CTSA), Sainik Schools run by Ministry of Defence (MoD), Schools run by Atomic Energy Education Society (AEES).
5. Schools affiliated to Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) (other than those at (a) and (b) above)
6. Schools affiliated to Council for Indian Schools Certificate Examination (CISCE) (Other than those at (a), (b) and (c) above)

1. Normally retired teachers are not eligible for the award but those teachers who have served a part of the calendar year (at least for four months i.e. upto 30th April in the year to which National Award relates) may be considered if they fulfill all other conditions.

• Educational Administrators, Inspectors of Education, and the staff of training Institutes are not eligible for these awards.

1. Teacher/Headmaster should not have indulged in tuitions.
2. Only regular Teachers and Heads of Schools will be eligible.
3. Contractual Teachers and Shiksha Mitras will not be eligible.
4. Considerations to guide the selection of teachers at various levels:

Teachers will be evaluated based on the evaluation matrix given at Annexure-I. Evaluation matrix contains two types of criteria for evaluation:

100. Objective criteria:Under this the teachers will be awarded marks against each of the objective criteria. These criteria are given the weightage of 20 out of 100.
101. Criteria based on performance:Under this, teachers will be awarded marks on criteria based on performance e.g. initiatives to improve learning outcomes, innovative experiments undertaken, organization of extra and co-curricular activities, use of Teaching Learning Material, social mobility, ensuring experiential learning, unique ways to ensure physical education to students etc. These criteria are given the weightage of 80 out of 100.

3. Procedure for application and selection:
4. All the applications would be received through an online web portal. The portal would be developed and managed by Administrative Staff College of India (ASCI) assisted by CIET, NCERT under the overall supervision of MHRD.
5. ASCI would also ensure coordination with States/UTs regarding timely entry into the portal and resolution of technical and operational issues during data entry into portal.

• MHRD will bear the entire expenditure for development and maintenance of the portal.

1. In case of State/UTs, teachers and Heads of schools themselves shall apply directly by filling the application form online through the web portal before the prescribed cut-off date.
2. Every applicant shall submit a portfolio, online along with the Entry Form. The portfolio shall include relevant supporting material such as documents, tools, reports of activities, field visits, photographs, audios or videos etc.
3. Undertaking by the applicant: Each applicant shall give an undertaking that all the information/data submitted is true to the best of his/her knowledge and if anything is found at any later date to be untrue then he/she will be liable to disciplinary action.

District Selection Committee:

• First level scrutiny will be done byDistrict Selection Committee (DSC) headed by the District Education Officer. Members of DSC would be as under:

1. District Education Officer:Chairperson
2. Representative of State/UT Govt.:Member
3. One Reputed academician nominated by District Collector:Member

• The major functions to be performed by DSC are as under:

1. Physical verification of the facts/ information provided by the applicant by forming verification teams.
2. Evaluation/ marking of the applicants as per the format atAnnexure-I.
3. Certificate by DSC: The DSC shall certify that marks have been awarded after due verification of the facts.
4. After the detailed evaluation of the applications, DSC will shortlist3 names and forward these toState Selection Committee through online portal along with vigilance clearance certificate of each of the 3 applicants.
5. In addition to the applications received, the DSC in exceptional circumstances, may suo-moto consider name of maximum one person among the outstanding teachers including special educators and differently abled teachers/heads of schools. The evaluation will be done as per the format atAnnexure-I.
6. DSC may take into account performance of teachers in various streams of studies viz. science, arts, music, physical education etc.

The State Selection Committee (SSC)

1. The State Selection Committee (SSC) will be headed by Principal Secretary/ Secretary of State Education Department. Members of SSC will be as under:
2. Principal Secretary/ Secretary of State Education Department:Chairperson
3. Nominee of Union Govt.:Member
4. Director/Commissioner of Education:Member Secretary
5. Director, SCERT or equivalent if there is no SCERT:Member

1. The major functions to be performed by SSC are as under:
2. Re-verification of the facts/ information/marks of the nominations received from all the DSCs.
3. Evaluate all the nominations and prepare shortlist of the best candidates, subject to the maximum number allotted to the States/UTs as perAnnexure-II and forward the same to Independent Jury at National level through online portal.

Organization Selection Committee (OSC) (For other organizations)

1. The composition of OSC is as under:
2. Chairperson/ Director/ Commissioner/ Head of the Organization:Chairperson
3. One officer from the Organization nominated by the Chairperson
4. Nominee of Union Govt.:Member
5. One reputed academician deputed by the Chairperson:Member

• The major functions to be performed by OSC are as under:

1. The Organizations may follow their internal processes for receiving nominations.
2. Evaluate all the nominations and prepare shortlist of the best candidates, subject to the maximum number allotted to the Organizations as perAnnexure-II and forward the same to Independent Jury at National level through online portal.

Independent Jury at National level

• Independent Jury at National level headed by retired Secretary, Department of School Education & Literacy, MHRD would review the list of candidates as forwarded by all the 36 SSCs and 7 OSCs and carry outfresh assessment.
  1. Each nominee is required to make a presentation before the Jury.
  2. The jury shall select names from the list subject to the maximum of 45 (+2 Special Category for differently abled teachers etc.).
  3. TA/DA for nominees shall be paid by MHRD.
  4. Secretarial assistance to the Jury will be provided by NCERT.
• All other awards have been subsumed under this award.

1. The suggested way forward along with proposed timelines is as under:
   2018. Opening of web-portal for inviting applications – 15th June to 30th June, 2018. Large scale publicity through newspaper advertisements, social media (Twitter, Facebook etc.) and by sending emails directly to the teachers & the State Education Departments, etc.
   2019. District Selection Committee nominations to be forwarded to the State Selection Committee by 15th July, 2018.
   2020. State Selection Committee shortlist to be forwarded through online portal to Independent National Jury by 31th July, 2018.
   2021. Letters/communication to be issued by MHRD through online portal to all the shortlisted candidates by 3rd August.
   2022. Finalization of names by Independent National Jury by 30th August, 2018.

Evaluation Matrix for National Award to Teachers                                                Annexure-I

State/UT/Organization wise maximum number of nominations allowed      Annexure-II