An inspiring journey of an innovative teacher

Rajamahendravaram: Teaching primary school students in a way that makes learning easy and enjoyable is no small feat. For Moturi Mangarani, a primary school teacher, this challenge was a turning point in her career. Starting her journey with a relentless drive to innovate, she not only transformed the art of teaching but also earned international recognition for her efforts.

Born in Murari village of Gandepalli Mandal, in the erstwhile East Goda-vari district of Andhra Pradesh, Mangarani comes from a modest back-ground. Her father worked as a construction labourer, and her mother was a homemaker. Despite hardships, her parents nurtured a dream to see their daughter succeed as a teacher.

Mangarani studied in Telugu medium and did BSc in Computers and BEd, and became a teacher in 2010. At present, she is the headmistress of Sri Nagaraja Municipal Primary School in Rajahmundry. Mangarani soon re-alized the importance of making lessons interesting and accessible for young minds. In 2012, she began creating animated videos and intro-duced innovative teaching-learning materials (TLM) to simplify concepts for her students. What started as a classroom experiment evolved into an educational revolution when she uploaded her videos on YouTube.

The response was overwhelming. Teachers across India and even abroad began using her videos in their classrooms.

Today, her YouTube channel boasts over 2,29,000 subscribers and an astonishing 80 million views with her lessons reaching audiences in nearly 100 countries. Following requests from Telangana, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, and Karnataka, she created content for them as well.

Mangarani's innovative approach has won her numerous accolades, in-cluding the Savitribai Phule Award in Telangana and the Women Em-powerment Award from Adikavi Nannaya University (AKNU). The Andhra Pradesh government and the Central government have honoured her with the Best Teacher Awards, while Lions Clubs and other organizations have recognized her contributions.

Her work caught the attention of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chan-drababu Naidu who lauded her efforts on social media. Inspired by her dedication, an NRI donated a projector for her classroom, while another donated books worth Rs 40,000 for the school library.

The SCERT (State Council of Educational Research and Training) involved her in designing textbooks for Grades 1 and 4 in English. She has also contributed to teacher training modules, UNICEF publications, and adult education books, showcasing her versatility in educational content creation. As a state-level resource person, she has trained over 1,200 teach-ers in digital content creation.

Mangarani has experimented with diverse tools from puppetry to aug-mented reality to make learning fun and impactful. She has designed dig-ital games and puzzles to foster a love for the Telugu language among students. Her "learning through play" methodology emphasizes that en-gaging activities are the key to a child’s holistic development.

She has now initiated projects like a Nutri Garden and a classroom library in her school. Her efforts to involve parents in the learning process have also set a benchmark for inclusive education.

She is now mastering ad-vanced animation techniques to make her online lessons even more captivating. Her story is a testament to the power of creativity and perse-verance in transforming education.