Tamil Nadu teacher wins national creativity award at Puthiya Thalaimurai honours
D. Brinda receives award from education officer
A government school teacher from Cuddalore District was recognised among ten outstanding educators from across Tamil Nadu in a rigorous three-stage selection process
By MKT Reporter
D. Brinda, a teacher at Melpattampakkam Government High School in Cuddalore District, Tamil Nadu, won the Creativity Award at the Puthiya Thalaimurai and Kanavasiriyar Teacher Awards held on 29 August at Vaishnav College, Chennai, in a ceremony marking Teachers’ Day in India.
Teachers’ Day is observed annually on 5 September, the birthday of former Indian President and philosopher Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, and is marked across the country with events honouring educators who have made exceptional contributions to their profession.
The Puthiya Thalaimurai ceremony, broadcast by the Tamil-language television channel of the same name, brought together approximately 500 guests and ran from 6pm to 9:30pm. It opened with the traditional Tamil Thai Vazhthu, the invocational song in praise of the Tamil language, before proceeding to honour ten teachers drawn from across Tamil Nadu, each recognised under a distinct category.
The ten recipients and their categories were: Mrs Renuka for language development; Mrs Brinda for creativity; Mr Rajan for science awareness; Mr Manohar for innovative practice; Mr Narasimman for rural service; Mrs Sudha for girl child education; Mrs Hemalata for inclusive education for children with special needs; Mrs Chitra for tribal education development; Mr Martin Joseph for special education; and Mr Kannan for activity-oriented teaching.
The selection process was notably rigorous. Applications were invited from across the state and scrutinised by a panel of eminent members. A reporter team from the channel then conducted unannounced visits to verify each teacher’s work on the ground, speaking with parents, current and former students and members of the public at nearby locations including local bus stands. Shortlisted candidates were then verified through their respective heads of institution before proceeding to a jury interview conducted by reputed educational figures. Final selections were made only after candidates had passed each of these filters, with pre-shoot visits to schools and homes allowing the production team to observe classroom environments and interactions with children firsthand.
Brinda’s journey to the award stage has been anything but conventional. She began her teaching career in 1994 at Dalhousie Public School in Himachal Pradesh, before taking her expertise internationally to the Republic of Maldives. She has also represented India at the Kumamoto Tsunami Awareness Summit in Japan, an experience that broadened both her professional outlook and her commitment to education as a tool for community resilience.
Now based at Melpattampakkam Government High School, Brinda has built a reputation for teaching methods that reach well beyond the classroom. She conducts seminars, quizzes and role-play sessions as part of her regular practice and has uploaded more than 4,000 educational videos for students from Class 3 to Class 10 on her YouTube channel — a resource that extends her reach to learners far beyond her own school. She participates in educational broadcasts on both Educational Television and Doordarshan, and edits a bimonthly e-magazine for creative writers. She was also part of a world record event for the publication of 150 books in a single day and regularly hosts open-mic sessions designed to nurture student creativity and confidence.
At the ceremony, each awardee was introduced through an audio-visual presentation before being invited to the stage, where they received a pen shield and certificate from eminent personalities in attendance. The hall received each recipient warmly, with Brinda’s introduction drawing sustained applause from the audience.
In her remarks after receiving the award, Brinda expressed gratitude to The Mt Kenya Times for publishing articles from her creative writers’ platform, describing the newspaper’s support as a source of pride and encouragement for her students and contributors.
The Puthiya Thalaimurai Teacher Awards have established themselves as one of Tamil Nadu’s most credible platforms for recognising educators who go beyond the prescribed curriculum to make a lasting difference in their students’ lives. For Brinda, the recognition affirms a career built not on comfort but on curiosity — one classroom, one video and one student at a time.
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