India’s Best Teachers’ Awards 2026: A classroom experiment rooted in Bastar’s geography, culture and everyday life has helped Vinayak Kohli, a social science teacher at PM Shri Kendriya Vidyalaya Kondagaon, win national recognition in the Geography category of the India’s Best Teachers’ Awards 2026.
Kohli has won the award in the Geography category, the official certificate noted. The awards were jointly organised by the Shiv Nadar Foundation and the University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School. Kohli’s teaching model moved geography and social science lessons beyond textbook explanations. At the centre of this approach was a social science laboratory, where students explored the social, geographical, and cultural features of their own region. The initiative also included a mini Bastar art museum, allowing students to connect classroom learning with local heritage and material culture.
Kohli was selected as the public-school national winner from more than 9,400 registrations across 32 states and Union Territories. Kohli, Geography faculty at PM Shri KV Kondagaon, Chhattisgarh, attended and participated in the National Finals of the Oxford Said – Shiv Nadar Foundation India’s Best Teachers’ Awards 2026, held on September 3 to 5, 2026, at Shiv Nadar University, Delhi-NCR, according to the official participation certificate.
Speaking with NDTV, Kohli said that he used Bastar’s natural environment, local resources, traditional art, cultural practices, and community life to help students understand concepts through familiar examples. As incharge of the school’s Youth Parliament and Social Science Exhibition, Kohli said that he has also had students run their own student council elections, first by paper ballot, and later through a student-built EVM-style booth with indelible ink marking, giving them a first-hand understanding of India’s democratic process.
After progressing through the national competition, he was invited to Delhi for the final round, where he presented his teaching model before Oxford professors and other experts. His presentation and the evidence of its classroom impact led to his selection as the Geography category winner.
His selection followed a three-stage process, according to Kohli.
