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Recognition

The phones keep ringing in Parvati Niwas on Dewan's Road, in the city. Congratulatory messages have not stopped since the intimation came on Wednesday. Maya Mohan, Principal, Chinmaya Vidyalaya is one of the 25 teachers in India who has been selected for the National Award for Teachers, 2005. "I am to receive it from the President on September 5," she says, thrilled. The Ministry of Human Resource Development of Government of India gives this award every year for the best teachers.

The teachers selected for the National Award are given a prize amount of Rs. 25,000 a silver medal and a certificate of appreciation.

Ms. Mohan has been teaching for the last 28 years, and has been principal of the school for the last 12 years after taking over from her mother, Kamakshi Balakrishnan. She is happy that she has been able to keep up the high standards set by her mother, who is still an inspiration. Her style of teaching is often appreciated by students who feel her classes are not the routine kind. "After becoming the principal, I could not take as many classes as I wished as administrative matters and other school activities are keeping me busy," she said.

Earlier, she had received the CBSE Award for Best Teacher in 2001. Ms. Mohan regularly holds English workshops and takes an active interest in all the CBSE sponsored programmes held in South India.

Women empowerment is another subject that she is interested in apart from initiating several offbeat schemes in the school like Matho Flash, a Maths magazine. She designed an individual student record book to keep track of academic and behaviour assessment from Class I to X.

PREMA MANMADHAN

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