# President Murmu to award 21 teachers on September 5 2026-08-25T04:11:57+00:00 | Governance | Indian Opinion Desk Corroboration: 1 independent outlet President Droupadi Murmu will confer the National Awards to Teachers (NAT) 2026 on 21 teachers and faculty members from higher education institutions and polytechnics at Vigyan Bhawan on September 5, the Ministry of Education announced. The awardees include 12 teachers from central higher education institutions, five from state universities and colleges, three government and two private, and four faculty members from polytechnics, split equally between government and private institutions. Nominations were invited via the Rashtriya Puraskar Portal from May 26 to July 20. The awards recognise exemplary contributions based on teaching effectiveness, outreach, research and innovation. Two committees, a screening panel and a jury, select winners. The NAT was expanded in 2023 from school teachers only to include higher education and polytechnic faculty, supporting the National Education Policy 2020's goal of promoting excellence. ## Indian Opinion Analysis The Presidential Award for Teachers began in 1958, honouring school educators. The 2023 expansion to higher-education faculty under the Ministry of Education aligned with the National Education Policy 2020, which emphasises incentivising quality across all levels. The Rashtriya Puraskar Portal, launched in 2021, digitises the nomination process and is also used for other Ministry awards. With 21 winners from more than 15,000 nominations this cycle, the strike rate underscores the competitive two-stage screening. The September 5 ceremony at Vigyan Bhawan coincides with Teachers' Day, marking Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan's birthday. ## Coverage - greaterkashmir.com Leads with government announcement, no critical framing present This story was synthesised by AI from the source linked above. Tags: Droupadi Murmu, Ministry of Education, National Awards to Teachers, National Education Policy, Vigyan Bhawan Canonical: https://indianopinion.org/president-murmu-to-award-21-teachers-on-september-5/ License: Summary and commentary (c) Indian Opinion, reusable with attribution. Facts belong to the linked sources. Cite: https://indianopinion.org/president-murmu-to-award-21-teachers-on-september-5/#story-in-brief Review state: restored archive article, accurate at time of publication, not offered to search indexes. How this brief was made: an AI model read the report linked above and wrote this summary and analysis, which were published automatically. Published briefs are sampled every hour by an automated quality check; the editor verifies its findings and approves corrections, and corrected briefs carry a dated correction line. We do no original reporting. Methodology: https://indianopinion.org/ai-use-policy/