A primary school teacher from Maharashtra’s Solapur district has won the one-million US dollar Global Teacher Prize 2020 for promoting girls' education. Ranjitsinh Disale from Paritewadi village, was awarded in recognition of his efforts to promote girls’ education and initiating a quick-response (QR) coded textbook revolution in India.<br />” <br />” <span style="color: #222222;">The 32-year-old teacher emerged the winner from 10 finalists from across the world for the annual prize. The award was established by the Varkey Foundation and is given in partnership with UNESCO.</span><br />”<br />” <span style="color: #222222;">Much before the coronavirus pandemic hit the world and forced digital education to take the lead, there was a dedicated and committed man in Solapur in the state of&nbsp;Maharshtra, named Ranjitsinh Disale who had already started to design QR codes for his students.</span><br />” <br />” <span style="color: #222222;">Ranjitsinh Disale was named as the winner of Global Teacher Prize 2020, which is awarded by the London-based Varkey Foundation and UNESCO. 32 year old Ranjitsinh Disale, a teacher at the Zilla Parishad school in Paritewadi, Solapur has announced that he will share half of the one million dollar award money with the nine other finalists so that they too may continue their good work.</span><br />” <br />” <span style="color: #222222;">In the past, Disale had been named as the Innovative Researcher of the Year 2016 and has featured in the Satya Nadella’s book ‘Hit Refresh’. Post the announcement, Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari and Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray congratulated Disale for his commendable work.</span><br />” <span style="color: #222222;">&nbsp;</span><br />” <span style="color: #222222;">Aiming to be an IT engineer, Ranjitsinh Disale took up teacher training as a second choice but was inspired to see that teachers are real change-makers in the world. Combining his technical acumen and teaching methods, Disale is no less than a messiah for the students studying in the Zilla Parishad school in Solapur’s Paritewadi. Learning their local Kannada language, Disale redesigned all the textbooks from grade 1 to 4 with a unique QR code that embedded audio poems, video lectures, stories and assignments. This has helped students to develop communication, creativity and real-world problem-solving skills. Besides, promoting girl education, Disale’s efforts have resulted in acute reduction in teenage marriage in the last decade. Honoured to be the first Indian to win this coveted prize, Disale said this award will encourage him and other teachers to innovate, evolve and develop creative methods of teaching-learning. Disale said he is happy to be the catalyst of change in the community and spark curiosity in his students.</span><br />” &nbsp;