The President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee will present National Awards to meritorious teachers from across the country tomorrow (September 5, 2012) at a function in Vigyan Bhavan in New Delhi.

Every year, on the occasion of Teachers' Day (i.e. on September 5, the birthday of Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, Former President of India), the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Department of School Education and Literacy organizes a function for conferring these National Awards on meritorious teachers.

The Awards were instituted in 1958 to give public recognition to meritorious teachers working in primary, middle and secondary schools. Besides this, the Scheme also covers teachers of the schools affiliated to Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) including teachers of independent affiliated schools situated abroad, Council for Indian School Certificate Examination (CISCE), Sainik School, Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS), Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti (NVS), Central Tibetan School Administration (CTSA) and schools run by the Atomic Energy Education Society.

For teachers promoting inclusive education in schools and the education of children with disabilities in regular schools, 'Special Awards' have been instituted from the award year 2001.