Award for educators

"It is an honor to receive an award that is connected in such a deep way to (Mohandas) Gandhi, a man who is a constant reminder to me of what it means to serve with everything that you have. This award belongs to the thousands of people who have made up the Akanksha and Teach for India journey... and most importantly the precious children of India.” So wrote social activist and educationist Shaheen Mistri, the Jamnalal Bajaj Foundation’s (JBF) awardee for development and welfare of women and children this year.

Forty-eight-year-old Mistri started the not-for-profit education initiative Akanksha Foundation in 1991 and Teach For India in 2008. While Akanksha provides teachers, volunteers and social workers at 21 schools in Bombay and Poona, Teach For India program educates 40,000 children across seven cities in the country. The award, now in its 42nd edition, was presented at The Royal Opera House on December 2, 2019. The award carries a citation, a trophy and a cash prize of Rs 10,00,000.
"My idea was extremely simple,” Mistri had told Parsiana (see "Ace of Akanksha,” Parsiana, December 7, 2006). "There are thousands of people like young collegians who are talented, skilled, trained, educated…and there are thousands of children who have no one to guide, assist, coach them.” Why aren’t we bringing them together? Why don’t we use the resources at our command? she wondered as she embarked on her journey.
JBF chairman and industrialist Rahul Bajaj stated at the ceremony that "there is an utmost need to identify those who have unswervingly dedicated their entire existence in propagating and preserving the noble ethos and philosophy of Gandhian values… It is our privilege to honor our awardees… for their untiring efforts in touching lives of the people of deprived communities,” reported The Economic Times of December 3, 2019. Set up in 1977 to honor the memory of industrialist, freedom fighter and devoted follower of Gandhi, JBF is committed to rural development activities. They "substantially fund programs which facilitate economic development, health, hygiene and sanitation, child and adult education, women and child welfare and alternative use of natural resources,” notes their website.
Other awardees for 2019 include Gram Bharati Samiti president Bhawani Shankar Kusum for his work with leprosy patients, women and children; Mohammad Mewati, mathematics school teacher and creator of educational applications to provide access to education to rural children and Mexico based artist Sonia Deotto who propagates the Gandhian philosophy of nonviolence.