Himachal Pradesh teacher donates national award prize money to Leh children

A teacher, who was presented a national award by president Pratibha Patil for her outstanding contribution to the field of education today, donated the cash prize of Rs25,000 to create education infrastructure for the flood-affected children of Leh.

Dr Meera Singh, principal of the Laureate Public School, Shimla, made a bank draft of the cash prize of Rs25,000 she received from the president and deposited the same in the prime minister's Relief Fund, a Himachal Pradesh government official said.

"She showed kind-heartedness and magnanimity of a teacher when she donated entire amount of cash prize to create education infrastructure for the flood-affected children of Leh," he said.

At a function in New Delhi, about 374 teachers from different parts of the country were facilitated with national awards for the year 2009 for their outstanding contribution to the field of education on the occasion of teachers' day.

Singh has earlier been awarded prestigious Paul Herris Fellowship, Green Earth Award and Bhartiya Sahitya Samman Award besides other awards and recognition from various government and non-government organisations, he said.

She is president of the Shimla Amateur Garden and Environment Society for last three years and has made "significant contributions in successful implementation of the Green Shimla and Clean Shimla Project," he added.