A total of 47 teachers from across the country, including women, were yesterday conferred the National Award by President Ram Nath Kovind on the occasion of Teacher’s Day. This was the first ever virtual award ceremony held on the occasion due to the Covid-19 pandemic which so far has infected over 4mn people across the country.
The president in his speech congratulated the winners of the award and appreciated the steps taken by the teachers in order to improve school education qualitatively.
He observed that about 40% of the winners of the National Awards were women and appreciated the role women have played as educators.
The national awards are given on Teachers’ Day to celebrate the unique contribution of teachers for infusing innovative methods of teaching and adopting best practices to teach students.
Some of the finest teachers in the country are honoured annually on Teacher’s Day for their commitment in not only improving the quality of school education but also enriching the lives of their students.
Paying obeisance and tributes to Dr S Radhakrishnan on the occasion, President Kovind said the event gives an opportunity to pay respect to our teachers for their commitment and supreme contribution in the lives of pupils.
Describing teachers as true nation builders, the president opined that they are instrumental in building the character and knowledge of the children.
Emphasising on the importance of digital technology in challenging times of Covid pandemic, the president said that our teachers are taking the help of this technology to reach out to the children.
Applauding the skills of teachers in shifting to this new technology driven teaching, he said that it is important for all teachers “to upgrade and update” their skills in the field of digital technology so as to make education more effective and also make the students conversant with the new techniques.
President Kovind said the online education system has made it obligatory for the parents to join hands with the teachers and encourage children to evoke interest in new fields of learning.
Pointing out at the digital divide, he also emphasised that steps should be taken so that children from tribal and far-flung areas are also benefited.
Talking about the National Education Policy, President Kovind said that the newly-introduced policy is an endeavour to prepare our children for future needs and has been designed after considering the opinion of various stakeholders.
It is now the teachers who would be at the centre stage for making the policy successful and productive, he added. All efforts are being made to make the teachers competent to implement the new National Education Policy and only the best would be chosen for the field of education, the President said.

Umarani Chiluka, a government school teacher from Telangana state, receives a ‘Global Teachers Award 2020’ by attending the virtual ‘Global Award Ceremony’ at her home due to the preventive measures put against the Covid-19 coronavirus, on the occasion of the Teachers Day, in Hyderabad, yesterday.

India is third in world to cross 4mn Covid-19 cases
AFP
New Delhi


India has become the world’s third country to pass 4mn coronavirus infections, setting a new record daily surge cases on Saturday as the crisis shows no sign of peaking. The 86,432 new cases took India to 4,023,179 infections, third behind the United States which has more than 6.3mn and just trailing Brazil on 4.1mn.
While the government has eased restrictions in a bid to revive the economy, India now has the world’s fastest growing number of cases at more than 80,000 a day and the highest daily death toll at more than 1,000. The country’s caseload has gone from 3 to 4mn in just 13 days, faster than the United States and Brazil.
 The pandemic is now spreading through rural areas which have poor health facilities but is also resurging in big cities like Delhi and Mumbai.
Maharashtra state, which includes Mumbai, has been at the centre of the crisis in India since a nationwide lockdown was imposed in March. It still accounts for nearly a quarter of the new daily cases across the country of 1.3bn.
 Shamika Ravi, an economics professor and former government adviser who has closely followed pandemic trends in India, said that India is “nowhere close” to a peak and Maharashtra must become the “focus” of the campaign against the coronavirus.
“There is no controlling Covid-19 in India without controlling the outbreak in Maharashtra,” she said on Twitter. “Given its economic significance, Maharashtra will continue to influence the spread of infection elsewhere in the country.” On expected lines, the number of Covid positive cases in Kerala continues to surge and on Saturday it saw the highest number of 2,655 people turning positive. Speaking to the media, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said on account of Onam festival relaxation in rules, this was expected “but if compared to the basic indicators of spread with other states, we have done well to keep such indicators below the national average.”
“The tests per million reveals Kerala is doing well, when the national average is 2,731, Kerala’s figure is 2,168 while in other neighbouring states like Andhra Pradesh it stands at 8,479, while in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu it’s above 5,000,” said Vijayan.
He said of the new cases, 2,433 were local infectees and a cause for worry is while the spread in the capital district coastal hamlets has come down, it’s not so in the city. At present there are 21,800 active Covid cases in the state.
11 deaths were reported, taking the death toll to 337.
Karnataka registered 9,746 more Covid cases raising the state’s tally to 389,000 even as 9,102 more patients recovered from the virus, an official said. “On Saturday, 9,746 new positive cases are reported and 9,102 persons have been discharged,” said Health Commissioner Pankaj Kumar Pandey. Bengaluru reported 3,093 more cases raising the city tally to 144,000, of which 41,479 were active.
The highest number of coronavirus cases in the southern state were concentrated in Bengaluru. Among other places, Mysuru accounted for 790 infections, followed by Belagavi (473), Davangere (395), Dakshina Kannada (377), Ballari (366), Hassan (347), Shivamogga (346) and Mandya (246). As many as 128 more patients died of the virus increasing the statewide toll to 6,298.
Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Saturday ended his week-long self-quarantine after testing negative for Covid-19. The chief minister had quarantined himself after coming in contact with two MLAs who had later tested coronavirus positive.
He came in contact with the legislators in the Vidhan Sabha on August 28 during a one-day session of the House. Amarinder Singh, who presided over a virtual high-level meeting of Ministers, Congress MLAs and senior officials, said during the interaction that he had got himself tested and was found negative.
This was the third time the chief minister had got himself tested for coronavirus since the outbreak of the pandemic.