Why Is Teachers’ Day Celebrated On September 5 In India?

Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan

Teachers’ Day History and Importance: Every year, India celebrates the birth anniversary of Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (September 5) as National Teachers’ Day as a tribute to his contributions and achievements.

Radhakrishnan completed his entire education through scholarships. He possessed a master’s degree in Philosophy and authored the book ‘The Philosophy of Rabindranath Tagore’ in 1917. He also served as the Vice-Chancellor of Andhra University from 1931 to 1936 and the Vice-Chancellor of Banaras Hindu University (BHU) in 1939, succeeding Madan Mohan Malviya.

He went on to teach at Chennai’s Presidency College and Calcutta University. In 1954, he was awarded the Bharat Ratna — the highest civilian award in India. He was admitted as an honorary member of the British Royal Order of Merit in 1963.

Why Is Teachers’ Day Celebrated On September 5 In India?

• Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan served as the first vice president of India from 1952 to 1962.

• It is believed that while he was serving as the second President of India in 1962, his students approached him to seek permission to celebrate his birthday – September 5 – as a special day. To this, Dr Radhakrishnan instead made a request to observe September 5 as Teachers’ Day, to recognise the contribution of teachers to society.

Teachers’ Day is now celebrated to highlight the importance of teachers in our lives and recognise their contribution to the society.

To celebrate Teachers’ Day, most schools organise cultural functions in which students thank the teachers for their work in the form of songs, dances, plays/ skits, poems and more. A lot of senior students also dress up as teachers and handle classes during the day.

On Teachers’ Day, the government also confers awards to some selected teachers in the form of ‘ National Awards to Teachers’.