Maharashtra: National award for two teachers from Chembur, Ahmednagar

MUMBAI: Two teachers from the state are among the 47 from across the country who will be feted by the Ministry of Education for their contribution to education on Teachers’ Day, September 5.
Among the awardees from Maharashtra is Sangeeta Sohni (58), a teacher at Atomic Energy Central School No. 4 in Anushaktinagar. A fourth generation teacher, Sohni has been teaching for the last 35 years.“I gave up my medicine seat to pursue teaching. In spite of teaching for nearly four decades, my passion hasn’t faded,” she told TOI. Apart from teaching chemistry to students from grades IX to XII, she has created various low-cost teaching aids to keep students’ interest in the subject alive. “I have used a toy doll to explain atomic structures and periodic properties, bangles and balls to explain chemical bonding and a pack of cards to learn different group properties,” she said.
Also getting the award this year is Narayan Mangalam (40), a teacher at the Zilla Parishad Primary School in Gopalwadi, Ahmednagar. “I was inspired by my uncle, who was a teacher. I started my journey in 2003 in a school in Paithan. Ever since, I have strived to make a change in the lives of my students,” said Mangalam.
While the President usually hands over the awards at a ceremony in New Delhi, this year, the felicitation will be done online on Saturday. An independent jury reviewed the list of 153 teachers as shortlisted by all the state and union territory committees.