Visakhapatnam: SGT to receive national award for her exceptional teaching skills
SGT Murahararao Umagandhi engaging students in an activity during her class in Visakhapatnam
Visakhapatnam: The concept of joyful learning and the importance of decluttering one’s mind through yoga and ‘dhyana’ form a part of Murahararao Umagandhi’s teaching.
Breaking away from the chalkboard teaching method, SGT (Secondary Grade Teacher) from GVMC Primary School, Sivajipalem incorporates music, story-telling sessions and fun-filled activities in her lessons to make the content as engrossing as possible for those studying from Classes I to V.
The SGT’s innovative way of imparting lessons made her win a National Award to Teachers -2023 to be presented by the Ministry of Education, Department of School Education and Literacy, NAT section. She will receive it on September 5, marking the Teachers’ Day in New Delhi.
During the selection process for the national award, Umagandhi was one among the six-member team who participated from across Andhra Pradesh. Of them, three teachers got shortlisted for the national award, including Umagandhi, and two other teachers from Nellore and Annamayya districts. “In a competitive world, it is very essential to de-clutter one’s mind so that it can be trained to absorb quality content. When we stress on joyful learning, children fall in place by themselves and look forward to attending the class the next day. As teachers, we need to pique students’ curiosity by engaging them in an effective manner so that learning becomes easy for them,” narrates Umagandhi, a gold medalist in M.Phil (Telugu).
By essaying the role of a state resource person and coordinator of State Council of Educational Research and Training, the SGT has been part of designing ‘Ananda Vedika’ and ‘Ananda Lahari’ programmes. Her way of imparting lessons made her bag several awards, including State Best Teacher Award in 2019.
In 2022, Umagandhi received Swachh Visakha Puraskar from the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation for her contribution to the corporation’s initiative of banning single use plastic and inculcating a sense of responsibility among students towards the endeavour.