Ladakh Teacher Mohd Mustafa Kamal Receives National Teachers Award 2026 in New Delhi
President Droupadi Murmu conferred the National Teachers Award 2026 on 41-year-old educator Mohd Mustafa Kamal at an award ceremony in New Delhi on September 5, marked as Teachers' Day. Kamal, who hails from Wakha village near Kargil in Ladakh, was recognised for his work at Government Model Middle School Grong Pashkum, also listed as Government Middle School Zgangjing in Sankoo, Kargil district.
The Ministry of Education highlighted Kamal's contributions, stating that since 2011 he has transformed remote and resource-constrained classrooms by introducing experiential, contextual, and technology-enabled Social Science education. The ministry noted that he converted local surroundings into learning resources through approaches such as the Cave Classroom, Museum Classroom, and Classroom Parliament, linking history, geography, civics, and economics with local heritage and community life.
Kamal's teaching initiatives include repurposing war-era bunkers into educational spaces. In his research titled "Contextualizing Geography Education in Ladakh: A pedagogical approach," Kamal explained that students act as junior archaeologists at the cave museum. Students explore cave shelters dug by Pashkum villagers during the 1999 Kargil War to escape firing, as well as the ruins of forts built by local chieftains during the medieval period in Ladakh.
During these cave museum sessions, students receive hands-on experience painting cave walls and routinely produce replicas of seals, coins, and toys using fine clay. Kamal noted that these practical exercises foster questioning and curiosity among students, making Social Science lessons engaging, deeply connected, and effective while teaching them about regional history and cultural heritage.
Inside standard classrooms, Kamal rearranged seating to simulate the Indian Parliament, splitting students into ruling and opposition factions while he presided as Speaker to debate contemporary issues. He also introduced game-based learning such as "Great Bath Ludo," inspired by Mohenjo-Daro, and brought artefacts like old stones and utensils collected by students into history discussions to promote stress-free assessments aligned with the National Education Policy.
In addition to experiential models, Kamal integrated digital platforms including School Bhuvan, Google Earth, Stellarium, Kahoot, and Quizizz into his curriculum, and contributed digital lessons through PM eVIDYA. According to the Ministry of Education, Kamal has also trained more than 1,000 teachers in context-based education methods.
