New Delhi, Aug 24: President Droupadi Murmu will confer National Awards to Teachers 2026 on 21 teachers and faculty members from higher education institutions and polytechnics at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi on September 5, with the expanded awards recognising excellence in teaching, research, innovation and outreach.
The 21 awardees include 12 teachers from central higher education institutions, five from state universities and colleges—including three government and two private institutions—and four teachers from polytechnics, comprising two government and two private institutions.
The National Awards to Teachers were opened to higher education institutions and polytechnics in 2023, when the government introduced two new categories under the awards framework, which had earlier been limited to school teachers. The expansion was aligned with the National Education Policy 2020, which calls for rewards and recognition to promote a culture of excellence across the education ecosystem.
Nominations for the 2026 awards were invited online through the Rashtriya Puraskar Portal at awards.gov.in from May 26 to July 20, with provisions for self, institutional and peer nominations under Jan Bhagidari.
Selection was carried out in two stages, with a Preliminary Search-cum-Screening Committee initially shortlisting nominees before a Committee of Jury selected the final awardees. Candidates were assessed on parameters including teaching-learning effectiveness, outreach activities, research and innovation, sponsored research, faculty development programmes and consultancy teaching.
The awardees are Prof. Avlokita Agrawal of IIT Roorkee, Uttarakhand, in Sustainable Architecture and Built Environment; Prof. Kirti Chandra Sahu of IIT Hyderabad, Telangana, in Chemical Engineering; Prof. Vinay Chamola of BITS Pilani, Rajasthan, in Electricals & Electronics Engineering; Dr. Srikant Gollapudi of IIT Bhubaneswar, Odisha, in Metallurgy & Materials Science; Dr. Mithun Radhakrishna of IIT Gandhinagar, Gujarat, in Chemical Engineering; Prof. Sourav Datta of IISER Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, in Plant Sciences; Prof. Vikram Vishal of IIT Bombay, Maharashtra, in Earth Sciences; Prof. Sarvaiya Jayrajsinh Indrajitsinh of the National Forensic Sciences University, Gandhinagar, Gujarat, in Forensic Pharmacy and Food Forensics; Prof. Sankar Prasad Rath of IIT Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, in Chemical Sciences; Dr. Manisha Nigam of Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal University, Srinagar, Uttarakhand, in Biochemistry; Dr. Amar Mohanrao Taksande of Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, Wardha, Maharashtra, in Medicines-Paediatrics; Dr. Arun Babu of AIIMS Mangalagiri, Andhra Pradesh, in Medicines-Paediatrics; Dr. Pukhrambam Lilabati Devi of the Department of Dance and Music, Manipur University, Imphal, in Manipuri Dance; Prof. Dr. Ashutosh Mohan of the Institute of Management Studies, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, in Management; Prof. Ankuran Dutta of Gauhati University, Guwahati, in Mass Communication; Ms Shivani V. of Karnataka Sanskrit University, Bangalore, in Sanskrit; Prof. Rajeev Choudhary of Pt. Ravishankar Shukla University, Raipur, in Physical Education and Yoga Education; Dr. Vishwanatha H. S. of M.E.I. Polytechnic, Bangalore, in Civil Engineering; Dr. Sasikala S. of PSG Polytechnic College, Coimbatore, in Electrical & Electronics Engineering; Dr. Kannan Rathinam of Sakthi Polytechnic College, Erode, in Physics; and Dr. Sandipann Pralhad Narote of Government Polytechnic, Solapur, in Electronics Engineering and Telecommunication.
