Teacher who made Gadchiroli his home gets national award

Nagpur: As Wednesday evening wore on, a particular phone number in small village of Gadchiroli district was flooded with congratulatory messages and phone calls. For Sironcha taluka’s Zilla Parishad school teacher Khurshid Sheikh, the news was just about sinking in that he is one of the recipients of the prestigious National Awards To Teachers (2021). It will suffice to say that it’s considered the Filmfare and Oscar equivalent for teachers.
Sheikh, a teacher at the ZP Upper Primary School (Asaralli village), is among 44 teachers across the country who will receive the awards at the hands of the President of India. From Maharashta, another teacher from Osmanabad, Umesh Khose, has been selected as well. These awards, under the aegis of union ministry of education, are given for exemplary work in the education field by active/serving teachers.
For Sheikh, this is a culmination of sheer selfless dedication to a district which he fell in love with almost three decades ago. Speaking to TOI from Sironcha taluka, Sheikh said, “I am originally from Jalgaon and had come to Gadchiroli 25 years ago for my Bachelors in Education (B.Ed). My stay here made me realize that the need of teachers is actually in these remote villages where there is so much work to be done. And I never left.”
Sheikh has been recognized for his contribution in helping students overcome the learning gap. “I teach in an upper primary school where students till Std VII are enrolled. Since we are located near the Telangana border, mother tongue of majority of these kids is Telugu. Others speak Madia, a very common dialect here. Our curriculum is in Marathi, which is why a learning gap is created. Over a period of time we developed a system in which even their language is used as the starting point to crossover to the mainstream learning,” said Sheikh.
While an extremely poor network made most the of conversation indecipherable, the humility of Sheikh was crystal clear. “I want to serve more tribal students and ensure that they get a good education. Gadchiroli is now my home and I will strive to be worthy of it,” said Sheikh.