By Quaid Najmi

Solapur (Maharashtra), Dec 3 (IANS): In a significant achievement, a Maharashtra government school academician from Solapur has bagged the Varkey Foundation's top Global Teacher Prize-2020 worth $1 million (Rs 7.40 crore), according to an official announcement made in London on Wddnesday.

The winner of the prestigious awrd is Ranjitsinh Disale, who teaches at the Zilla Parishad School in Paritewadi, Solapur district. Disale is credited with transforming education by using QR codes and other innovations to impart lessons, which helped reduce dropout rates drastically, especially among the girl students.

Starting his academic career in a ramshackle building in a remote tribal-dominated village, Disale was among the 10 global teachers shortlisted in October for the top global honour and was proclaimed the winner on Wednesday evening at a ceremony in London.

"The impact of Ranjitsinh (Disale's) interventions has been extraordinary: There are now no teenage marriages in the village and 100 per cent attendance by girls at the school. The school was also recently awarded the best school in the district with 85 per cent of his students achieving A grades in annual exams. One girl from the village has now graduated from University, something seen as an impossible dream before Ranjitsinh arrived," said the official citation on the GTP website.