New Delhi: Twenty-two women and 26 men are among the 48 school teachers selected for the National Teachers Awards 2026, with this year’s cohort representing 27 states, seven Union Territories and six organisations of the Central Government.
President Droupadi Murmu will confer the National Teachers Awards on the 48 teachers at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi on September 5, Teachers’ Day. Short documentaries highlighting the work of each awardee will also be showcased at the ceremony.
The awardees represent a wide cross-section of India’s school education system, ranging from government schools and PM SHRI institutions to Kendriya Vidyalayas, Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas, an Eklavya Model Residential School and a Sainik School.
The selection also spans different types of schools and geographies, from a PM SHRI Government Middle School in Zgangjing, Ladakh, and a government senior secondary school in Dikling, Sikkim, to schools in Mayabunder in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Sechu Zubza in Nagaland and Nayagram in West Bengal.
Uttar Pradesh has the highest number of awardees among the states, with three teachers selected this year. Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and West Bengal have two awardees each, while the remaining represented states and Union Territories have one awardee each.
Government schools make up a large share of awardee list
A substantial part of the 2026 cohort comes from government schools across different levels of school education.
The list includes teachers from government primary and middle schools, government high schools, senior secondary schools and government inter colleges. Among them are teachers from Government Model High School in Chandigarh, Government Electric Veng High School in Mizoram, Government Higher Primary School Samatagaru in Karnataka, Panchayat Union Primary School Puliyampatti in Tamil Nadu and Government Model School in Nayagram, West Bengal.
The cohort also reflects the growing footprint of the PM SHRI school network. Awardees include teachers from PM SHRI GMSSS Mayabunder in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, PM SHRI Kendriya Vidyalaya No. 2 Madurai, PM SHRI KV NFR Rangiya, PM SHRI Government Senior Secondary School Dikling in Sikkim and PM SHRI Sabroom Girls HS School in Tripura.
Other national school systems are represented as well. The list includes an awardee from Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya Latur, a teacher from Sainik School Satara and a teacher from Eklavya Model Residential School Karanjia.
22 women among 48 awardees
Women account for 22 of the 48 awardees, while 26 are men, making women nearly half of this year’s cohort.
The women selected include teachers working across government schools as well as other school systems. Among them are Dr Manisha Khetrapal from PM SHRI KV NFR Rangiya, Dr Archana Shukla from Government Mahatma Gandhi Sandipani Higher Secondary School in Bhopal, Dr Kavita Narsingrao Gitte from Sane Guruji Niwasi Vidyalaya in Maharashtra and Dr Vartika Gulati from a government primary school in Rajasthan.
The list also includes women teachers from smaller schools and remote locations, including Ms Sushma Tamang from PM SHRI Government Senior Secondary School Dikling in Sikkim and Ms Yaku Tame from Government Secondary School, G-Sector, Naharlagun, Arunachal Pradesh.
A national spread across school systems
The 48 teachers were selected through a three-stage process at the district, state and national levels conducted by the Department of School Education and Literacy, Ministry of Education.
Online self-nominations were invited from eligible teachers between June 15 and July 20 through the Ministry of Education’s National Teachers Awards portal.
The Ministry said the National Teachers Awards are intended to recognise teachers who have contributed to improving the quality of school education and enriching the lives of their students.
The 2026 list includes teachers from almost every part of the country, including the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Arunachal Pradesh, Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, Nagaland, Sikkim, Mizoram and Tripura, alongside teachers from larger states such as Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and West Bengal.
The awardees are not arranged in any particular order of merit.
The National Teachers Awards ceremony will be telecast live on Doordarshan and the SWAYAM PRABHA channels of the Ministry of Education. It will also be streamed on the Ministry’s social media platforms and its webcast portal.
