Village Teacher Wins $1 Million Prize For World's Most 'Exceptional' Educator
In 2010, Indian teacher Ranjitsinh Disale heard that one of his teenage female students was going to marry a man in his 30s.
"I directly went to the girl's house and told her father, you cannot do this," says Disale, 32, who currently teaches third and fourth graders at a government school in Paritewadi, a small village in western India.
When the father didn't agree, Disale called the police because child marriage is illegal in India. Together they counseled the father. Finally, the father called off the wedding.
It's actions like this that helped earn Disale the title of the world's most "exceptional teacher."
In December, Disale the $1 million Global Teacher Prize, an annual award sponsored by the Varkey Foundation, a U.K.-based nonprofit working to improve access to education nominated for the prize.
