Karnataka mathematics teacher wins national award

Yakub S, a popular mathematics teacher of the state-run Nada Government High School at Beltangady in Dakshina Kannada district, has been selected for the coveted national award by the Union Education Ministry this year for his outstanding contribution to the subject and students over the years.

Mangaluru: Yakub S, a popular mathematics teacher of the state-run Nada Government High School at Beltangady in Dakshina Kannada district, has been selected for the coveted national award by the Union Education Ministry, an official said on Saturday.

"Yakub is one of the three high school teachers from Karnataka to win the national award presented by the Education Ministry this year for his outstanding contribution to the subject and students over the years," said Belthangady block education officer K. Sara.

"Yakub, 48, shot into fame in 2018 when he was selected for the state-level best teacher's award for setting up a maths lab in the school to make learning the subject easy for the students," recalled Sara.

Yakub made a whopping 300 videos on teaching maths in a simple way by demystifying its complex concepts and uploaded them on YouTube to make them accessible to the students.

A product of the state-run Government Teachers' Educational Institute in Mangaluru, Yakub joined the Nada high school in 1996 and inspired hundreds of students to take interest in the subject over the years.

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Expressing surprise over winning the national award, Yakub told the local media that he was overwhelmed to win the best teacher award at the national level after winning a similar award at the state level two years ago.

"The national award is a reward for hard work and sincere effort to give quality education to the students of a government school. I am grateful to all for this national recognition," Yakub said.

Yakub's state-of-the-art Maths World Laboratory in the school has projector display, LED television, models, tools and EyeRIS interactive devices to make the subject simple and easy for the students of Classes 8-10.

"By collecting funds through social media platforms like WhatsApp and Facebook, Yakub has set up the lab and expanded it with more devices with the help of his old students and the school's alumni," Sara pointed out.

The DIKSHA portal of the Union Education Ministry has uploaded some of Yakub's videos on maths as learning material for students of Class 9-10 across the country.

The other two teachers from the southern state to with the national award are Surekha Jagannath from Afzalpura Government High School in Kalaburagi district and C. Shanmugam from the Kendriya Vidhyalaya at Jalajhalli in Bengaluru.

In all, 47 teachers from across the country were selected on Friday for the national awards which President Ram Nath Kovind will present in New Delhi on Teachers' Day, celebrated every year on September 5, marking the birthday of the country's second President S. Radhakrishna.

IANS