Syed Rizwan Geelani
Srinagar, Aug 27: A female teacher from Srinagar Urfana Amin has been selected for the prestigious National Teachers’ Award.
She would be felicitated with the award by the President of India on Teachers’ Day in New Delhi.
The function will be held on September 5.
Urfana, a resident of Bhagat-e-Shoor Lal Bazaar, is currently posted as a master grade teacher at Government Boys Higher Secondary School Soura.
She is among the 50 distinguished teachers from across the country to have been selected for this prestigious award.
Her nomination has come through a rigorous selection process in which she was among the 154 shortlisted teachers out of the numerous applicants across the country.
Talking to Greater Kashmir, Urfana Amin said that her friends and other colleagues encouraged her to apply for the award.
“I believe that the encouragement which I received from my friends was the driving force that forced me to apply for this award. As I have been selected for this national award, I expressed my gratitude to my friends, colleagues, Urfana said the support she got from her in-laws and her husband prompted her to apply for the National Teachers’ award.
“My family, husband and children supported me in every best possible way. Being away from home for the cause of education is biggest support I receive from my in-laws,” she told Greater Kashmir.
“The man behind me is my husband who provides every possible support and my children who accomodate me in every way,” she said.
Briefing about the selection process, Urfana said the criteria for applying for the award includes 90 points for performance and 10 points for objectives.
“Earlier, there used to be 20 marks for objectives and 80 points for performance. But this year’s objective part had only 10 marks and the performance had 90 points,” she said.
According to Urfana, the performance has been further subdivided into three categories and five sub-categories based on which the teacher is evaluated for her or his nomination for the award.
“The applicant must have something to show and explain for each category and subcategory,” she said.
Urfana said that the publications, educational videos, and other contributions are evaluated before getting selected for this award.
“The national team evaluates the work done for the children at every level like ECCE, CWSN, and other categories. The applicants have to produce the evidence to support their work,” Urfana said.
During the interview conducted by the national jury, Urfana, like the other 49 teachers selected for the award, faced an interview wherein she delivered a presentation for 10 minutes to defend her selection for the award.
“After the presentation, the question and answer session starts,” she said.
Urfana has been working as a National Resource Person and is a member of AJMER.
“I have also done a course on Early Childhood Care and Education from NCERT and after completing my course, I tried to implement it in Kashmir,” she said.
Urfana was recruited into the department as a General Line Teacher (GLT) in 2002 and has been working on all these components since 2007.
“I have been associated with CWSN and have a good hold on the Braille,” she said. (Greater Kashmir)
