00:00Congratulations on winning the award.
00:03How does this, what does this mean to you personally?
00:07Well, if I had enough words to explain what I'm feeling right now,
00:11I think I'm short of words. I'm humbled beyond words.
00:15So much to be thankful for and I just first want to thank His Highness Sheikh Hamdan
00:20and Mr. Sunny Varki from GEMS Education and Varki Foundation for this huge honour.
00:28This is for my country, India. I'm just so overwhelmed right now. Thank you so much.
00:33Your work centres around art. What makes art so important?
00:39You know, I've always believed and I always say that art is one medium
00:45that helps you connect to people very easily.
00:48It breaks the barriers between you and children, between you and people
00:52living in villages, slums, cities, anywhere.
00:57And, you know, it kind of brings people to you rather than you going to people.
01:03Like I have seen when I started almost two decades ago,
01:07when I painted my first mural in a slum, I had 10, 15 children behind me.
01:13Then when I did the second wall, I had little more than that.
01:16When I did the third wall, I had 200 students behind me out of curiosity.
01:20So art is that one medium that gives you a sense of belonging.
01:24It gives you, it kind of makes you feel that it's your own and you can express.
01:30Like a lot of children who are not very good in expressing verbally can express through art.
01:36And when I talk about creative learning, I don't just say painting.
01:40I say poetry, I say drama, singing.
01:42There are so many beautiful forms of art that children have learned
01:47and that has really helped them making education easy for them.
01:53I always say let's make learning fun because when you're having fun learning something,
01:57you don't need to worry about anything because you just instantly learn.
02:02It means a lot to you winning this, but what will it mean to those of you who helped?
02:07I think this award is for all the children of my country,
02:12to all the children that we've been working with from last so many years,
02:16for all the students and also to the Prime Minister of my country
02:21because he is extremely inspiring to all of us and his vision towards Viksit Bharat.
02:28So I would like to dedicate this award to both of them.
02:32It's obviously a significant amount of money.
02:34Would you say this is life-changing?
02:36Well, it is, definitely.
02:38And from last few years, we've been wanting to do a school,
02:43a learning center, a skill center, a computer lab in Kashmir.
02:48I guess that dream would come true now and soon we'll be opening that.
02:53What would your message be to any other teachers who were present within this gathering
02:57who perhaps wanted to win the award but didn't?
03:02I would say this is for every teacher in the world, not just for top 10, not just for top
03:0950.
03:09It's for every teacher who believes how important their students are,
03:14who believes that education is the way forward for every child.
03:19Teachers mattered earlier, but they matter the most now for motivation, for inspiration.
03:25Because when you educate one child, you don't educate one household, you educate the entire village.
03:32So I guess education is the most powerful tool that we must use for the change we want to bring
03:38in.
03:39How many children do you think you've helped and what's that process been?
03:42What is it you actually do for those that don't know?
03:44So we actually, in the initial stages, we started with art workshops.
03:48We went into many different slums.
03:50We went into remote areas in India, in different states.
03:53And we started conducting art workshops to understand what kids need, what do they like,
03:59what would make them happy going to school, what would make them happy doing homework or listening to their teacher.
04:05So it all started with creative workshops and art workshops.
04:09And as we progressed slowly and gradually from 30 children to over a million children today in India,
04:17and I think we're not going to stop here.
04:20I feel every day of your life is the first day of you at work and you have to keep
04:25going.
04:25And every child in India, in school, is what my dream is.
04:30You talk a lot about India.
04:31Is this now the opportunity through the awareness you're getting, through the interest in your work,
04:36to perhaps take your work globally as well?
04:39Definitely, definitely.
04:41I think to be recognized on such a huge global platform is itself, it's a huge honor.
04:49And I think I would travel now to different parts of the country, which I have done earlier also, but
04:54on a smaller scale.
04:55But I guess now God has opened a larger window for me to interact with the educators from across the
05:03globe.
05:03I have met almost 60, 65 educators, teachers from across the globe in the last couple of days in Dubai.
05:11So it's so much more to learn, to implement back home, because when we teach, we learn.
05:19And the world has amazing teachers.
05:22So there's so much to learn from them.
05:25Is this your first time at the World Government Summit?
05:28And if it is, what's been your impression of the World Government Summit?
05:32Well, yes, my first time here and with such a big honor.
05:37I mean, it's overwhelming.
05:40And, well, I've been seeing it from last two days online.
05:44And global leaders on one platform talking about so many different things in Dubai.
05:52I think it's really great because conversation leads to things that we want to do.
05:59And when you are on the same level of conversations and ideas in your mind, I guess best results come.
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