President Droupadi Murmu gave the National Teachers Award 2026 to Rajesh Bordoloi, a geography teacher from Jorhat in Assam, on September 5, 2026.
Rajesh Bordoloi teaches at Adarsha Tribal Higher Secondary School in Kalbari, Jorhat district. About two years ago he started a programme he calls Each One Teach One.
Class 10 students in it teach their own mothers to read, use a smartphone, make UPI payments and bank online. Peoples Feed has read the Press Information Bureau list naming Bordoloi at serial number four.
The Ministry of Education picked 48 school teachers this year, up from 45 in 2025. The wider total has fallen. Counting school and higher education together, 69 teachers were honoured in 2026, 66 in 2025 and 82 in 2024.
That 2024 list carried 16 awards from the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, and no such awards appear this year. Those totals come from four Press Information Bureau releases.
Bordoloi runs the programme in six villages, Business Today reported on September 5, 2026. They are Kalbari, Banhphala, Bhekelichapori, Dhankhuli, Laliti Chapori Gaon and Sarigharia.
Nearly half the students at Bordoloi’s school are first-generation learners, the same report said. About 99% are from the Mising community, whose villages the programme covers.
“Education becomes meaningful when it reaches families and communities,” Bordoloi told Business Today on September 5, 2026. “I wanted students to see how their knowledge could empower their mothers.”
How the National Teachers Award 2026 was decided
Three committees decide the National Teachers Award 2026, sitting at district, state and national level. Nominations opened on the Ministry of Education portal on June 15, 2026.
The June announcement set the timetable. District committees shortlisted from July 14, state committees from July 22, and a national jury from August 3 to August 7.
The scheme guidelines cap what reaches that jury. States may send 126 names, union territories 10 and central organisations 18. So Bordoloi was one of 48 chosen from a field of no more than 154.
Only regular teachers and heads of schools with ten years of service may apply. Contractual teachers, Shiksha Mitras and teachers who give private tuition cannot.
The 2024 announcement described the award as a certificate of merit, a silver medal and Rs 50,000 in cash. The 2026 announcement does not restate the amount.
Seven of the 48 school awardees teach in the Northeast
Peoples Feed counted the Press Information Bureau list on September 10, 2026. Seven of the 48 school awardees teach in Northeast states, or 14.6% of the list.
Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura have one awardee each, and Meghalaya has none. Bordoloi is the Assam name on that list.
The 48 come from 27 states, seven union territories and six central organisations. The split is 26 men and 22 women.
Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi held the ceremony, which Doordarshan and the SWAYAM PRABHA channels carried live.
“Dedicated teachers are the frontline nation builders,” President Droupadi Murmu said at that ceremony, in remarks reported by Akashvani News. She also said “A Viksit Bharat will only be possible with quality education”.
What this means for you: If you teach in a government school and have finished ten years of regular service, you can nominate yourself for the next round. Nominations for 2026 opened on June 15 on the Ministry of Education portal, so watch that page from June 2027.
Know someone whose work should be on this page? Write to us at editorial@peoplesfeed.in.
Spotted an error? Peoples Feed corrects the record. Write to corrections@peoplesfeed.in and see our Public Corrections Policy.
