New Delhi, Sep 4 (PTI) Bharti Kalra, the vice principal of Sarvodaya Co-ed Vidyalaya, Rohini, spent sleepless nights as her students missed online classes due to the lack of smartphones during the Covid pandemic last year.

However, instead of just waiting helplessly and letting her students' education being ruined, she took it to upon herself to ensure they have access to smartphones and could continue their learning.

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For the next several days, Kalra collected 321 smartphones through her family and friends. Kalra's effort is now being recognised.

She is one of the 122 schoolteachers who will receive the State Teachers' Awards from the Delhi government on the occasion of Teachers' Day Sunday.

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"I just did my duty and I am happy that it has been recognised by the government," Kalra told PTI over the phone.

After she mobilised help for the students whose parents could not afford smartphones, their online attendance and performance gradually improved.

"Her efforts got smartphones to 321 students. A majority of those were the students of class 10 and 12. Her help has been central to the performance of the students in the Board Examinations 2021," a Delhi government statement said.

A teacher of Home Science for 19 years and a vice principal for the last three, Kalra will be honoured with ‘special award' along with Sarita Rani Bhardwaj, a political science lecturer at Sarvodaya Co-ed Senior Secondary School in Mangolpuri.

Bhardwaj too made efforts in reaching out to the students who could not be contacted on phone for online classes during the pandemic.

She provided worksheets to the students who did not have smartphones for online classes.

The Delhi government announced to celebrate Teachers Day as 'Abhar Diwas' and award 122 teachers who discharged their duties diligently during the Covid pandemic, Deputy Manish Sisodia said Saturday.

Apart from the Special Award, the new 'Face of DoE' (Directorate of Education) awards will be given to two teachers -- Rajkumar and Suman Arora.

A music teacher at Rajkiya Pratibha Vikas Vidyalaya (RPVV) at Dwarka sector 19, Rajkumar initiated various activities in the school to promote Indian classical music among the younger generation.

“I was responsible for preparing cultural programmes for Republic Day and Independence Day. I was also made the coordinator for 'Maitri Yatra', a program for cultural exchange between the children of Delhi and Jammu & Kashmir,” Rajkumar said.

The teacher has held the record for longest Marathon Sitar player in Guinness Book of World Records by playing non-stop for 32 hours and 20 minutes.

The other recipient of the 'Face of DoE' award, Suman Arora, helped five students to clear IIT Advanced.

The mathematics lecturer at RPVV Paschim Vihar also worked as a Resource Person for newly promoted PGTs.

Arora was an active member for the review and update of support material for class 12 mathematics of the Year 2021-22 and her support for peer teachers and students helped 23 students to get selected in IIT JEE Mains.

Sisodia said that of the 1,108 applications received for the Delhi government's teachers' awards, 122 have been finalised by a panel.

Sisodia, who also holds the education portfolio, said earlier the number of awards were 103 and this year it has been increased.

The eligibility criteria have been relaxed to bring guest teachers and private tutors under consideration for the award. The norm of 15 years of teaching experience to be considered for the award has been relaxed to three years, he added.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)