Celebrating India Teacher’s Appreciation Day and Educators Worldwide

Teacher’s Appreciation Day in our family is special each year, as we get to appreciate my mother who, at the age of 84, continues to inspire her students in India every day.

This year, I feel especially grateful for educators who have evolved their teaching methods and uncovered unique solves to meet student needs and uplift the next generation. It’s been a learning curve for everyone—and one we’ll continue to navigate this next school year—but I’m inspired by the new and emerging trends that could forever change education for the better.

Learning from India’s focus on holistic learning

Coincidentally, today’s celebration of Teacher’s Day falls shortly after the one-year anniversary of India’s National Education Policy 20 – the first major overhaul of India’s education system in nearly 34 years focused on increasing performance-based assessments, prioritizing the practical, finding synergy between subjects, and helping students learn by doing. This shift also brings focus to the power of new, creative teaching strategies that empower students to create content and demonstrate learning.

While still in early stages of its implementation, the rising recognition of performance-based education is not only inspiring but also imperative to preparing today’s students with future-proof skills for tomorrow’s workforce.

In conversations the Adobe Education team in India has had with Dr. Chintan Vaishnav, our partner and mission director at AIM, he explained the impact of our work. “Creative skills powered by digital tools are an essential building block for shaping the future of a new, technologically empowered India aligned to the New Education Policy,” Dr. Vaishnav said. “The Adobe Creative Educator program enhances skills of educators in schools across India associated with Atal Tinkering Labs to kindle the spirit of creativity amongst young minds to tinker from home during online classes.”

The immeasurable impact of educators

This school year, we’ll discover which education trends may be here to stay, but one reality is certain: educators remain the driving force of positive change and the key to students’ future success.

Even in a virtual world, we’ve seen moving ways educators have challenged students to tap into human connection. I was awestruck by the work of professor Tomer Hanuka, who prompted his students at the School of Visual Arts to develop stunning faux New Yorker covers to convey their unique experiences of the pandemic. What started as Hanuka’s effort “to give the student artworks some exposure beyond the classroom” on Twitter led to inspiring millions with shared stories and hope for the future. Leveraging creativity and visual storytelling, Hanuka’s project embodies the power of innovative educators to not only instill new skills and knowledge but rediscover our shared humanity.

Additionally, I loved hearing the story of Abhay Kirkire, a mathematics teacher who completely reinvented how he taught students in remote villages in India with Adobe Spark over the last year of remote learning.

Supporting educators, students and schools through creativity and community

The Adobe Creative Educator Program, which recently reached over 17,000 certified members—almost 50% of whom are from India—is a great example of how a?professional learning community can unite teachers from all backgrounds in a common pursuit of igniting creativity and connection in our students and ourselves.

One member of our Creative Educator program in India recently won the National Information and Communication Technology Award because of his creative use of digital tools to engage students across subjects. Through sharing teaching materials, attending virtual events, and finding cross-cultural inspiration, this amazing network represents the exciting future of education and its foundation in the global educator community.

I am grateful today and every day for educators who have shaped generations of the past and look forward to continuing our work with them in shaping generations of the future – the only way forward is together.