At 63, Dr Renu Tripathi, who teaches science to students from classes 6 to 10 at a government school in Ghaziabad, has been defying stereotypes in more than one way. Quick to adapt to new technologies, she runs two YouTube channels for students and has been constantly innovating with her teaching methods. Classroom, for her, is not limited to four walls and she often uses field visits and handmade model to break down complex concepts.

Author of 12 books and several research papers, Dr Tripathi’s efforts during her two-decade-long teaching career were acknowledged this week as she got selected for the National Teachers Award 2026. She was informed about the selection on August 21 — congratulatory messages from colleagues and students flooded her mobile phone. “My former students told me that they are proud of me… Once I used to tell them that,” she shared with a smile.

Dr Tripathi has been teaching science since 2006 at Government Balika Inter College in Ghaziabad’s Vijay Nagar. She did not, however, start her career as a teacher. In 1987, she started working as a project officer at a government office — identifying school dropouts, counselling them and ensuring they go back to school. “I made sure no child was left behind,” she recalled.

But her father, also a teacher and a school principal, wanted his daughter to take up teaching like him. “Three months into my first job, he died of a heart attack. I had made a promise to him to become a teacher like him and take his principles forward,” she recalled.

In 2003, she was finally able to keep the promise when she took up a job as a science teacher at a school in Bulandhshahr. In 2006, she switched to the Ghaziabad school where she is presently teaching.

For Tripathi, classes have never been confined by walls or timetables. Her contribution to education by using low-cost teaching models and innovative learning resources in accordance with National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 has been acknowledged in her latest recognition. She has earlier received accolades from the Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh government previously.

“When NEP 2020 was implemented, I stepped up innovation as far my teaching method goes, and I saw that my students improved a lot,” she said.

Dr Tripathi added, “I no longer make them sit in the class, and rather spend time outside the four walls. On our recent trip to the Botanical Garden in Noida, I asked my students to look out for different kinds of trees. They learn by doing.”

She was able to realise the impact of this approach when one of her students, who she taught in class six, won a national award for a model on soil erosion in 2019. Tripathi recently learnt that she is now a Block Education Officer in the city.

“That made me realise that these activities hold power,” she said, adding that many of her students — despite economic challenges — have now become doctors, engineers, teachers and bank officers. “I have also made a choice to go beyond the traditional teacher-student relationship. When I studied in a government school, there were no smartclasses or phones. But now they have allowed us to connect with students,” she said, and added, “I can teach them remotely too. We have WhatsApp groups for every class.”

Tripathi, who uses multiple tools to spread information including online presentations on slideshare, wishes to continue teaching underprivileged students post retirement. For now, she is content that she can make a difference.