Guwahati: This Teachers’ Day, Assam’s top district officials, including IAS and ACS officers, stepped out of their offices and knocked on the doors of retired teachers, honouring veteran educators who had spent decades shaping young lives and classrooms across the state.The felicitation was part of the ‘Governor Assam Varishtha Shikshak Samman’ initiative, under which the governor directed district commissioners to honour the oldest retired primary school teacher in each district on Teachers’ Day.As part of the initiative, governor Lakshman Prasad Acharya felicitated 95-year-old Prafulla Kumar Borthakur, Assam’s senior-most retired primary school teacher, at his residence in Jamugurihat, Sonitpur, on Saturday, in recognition of his service to education.Referring to Borthakur’s long career, the governor said his values, knowledge and guidance had left a lasting impact on generations of students.“This is the greatest legacy of a teacher,” he said, adding that teachers had a vital role in shaping knowledgeable, responsible, compassionate and socially conscious citizens as Assam and the nation move towards ‘Viksit Bharat’.Borthakur was presented with a citation, a ‘phulam gamosa’, a shawl, a ‘xorai’, a ‘japi’, a fruit basket, an umbrella and a cheque for Rs 51,000.Similar felicitation programmes were held simultaneously across Assam at the district and elementary education block levels. While 35 senior-most retired primary school teachers were honoured at their homes by district authorities, 113 others were felicitated by block elementary education officers. Each teacher received a gamosa, a fruit basket and a citation from the governor.In Kamrup, district commissioner Deba Kumar Mishra honoured veteran educator Mohan Chandra Sarma at his residence in Borka. In Tamulpur, district commissioner Simi Karan felicitated senior retired teacher Dwijendra Nath Das of Sarangbari on behalf of the governor of Assam.“In all the field-level felicitations, senior govt representatives made personal visits to the homes of the teachers and offered their felicitations, underscoring the state’s respect and commitment to the teaching community,” the Assam governor’s office said in a media release.
