Teachers’ Day 2026: Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan's Story And Why We Celebrate His Birthday

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In 1962, a group of students in Delhi went to the newly sworn-in President of India with a simple request: could they mark his birthday with a celebration? Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan said no. He told them it would be his proud privilege if 5 September were observed as Teachers' Day instead. That one line, spoken by a man who had spent most of his life in a classroom before he ever entered Rashtrapati Bhavan, is the reason nearly every school in India goes quiet on this date every year.

Photo Credit: Chat GPT

Teachers' Day 2026 falls on Saturday, 5 September, observed every year to honour teachers for their role in shaping students' knowledge, values, confidence and future. This year, the tribute runs alongside a formal state ceremony: President Droupadi Murmu will present the National Teachers' Awards to 48 educators at a function in New Delhi, chosen from a three-stage selection process spanning district, state and national levels.

The Boy From Tiruttani Who Never Stopped Teaching

Radhakrishnan's own story reads like an argument for public education. He was born on 5 September 1888 into a modest Brahmin family in Tiruttani, in what is now Andhra Pradesh, and studied philosophy at Madras Christian College almost by accident - the subject wasn't his first choice. Still, a scholarship and a set of hand-me-down textbooks from a cousin pointed him there. He went on to take a temporary teaching post at Presidency College in Chennai, lecturing in philosophy, psychology and ethics, before completing his doctorate.

What followed was one of the more unusual academic careers of the 20th century. He held the King George V Chair of Mental and Moral Science at Calcutta University and later the Spalding Chair of Eastern Religion and Ethics at Oxford - a rare instance of an Indian scholar teaching Indian philosophy to the British establishment on its own turf, at a time when colonial universities rarely made room for the reverse. He also served as vice-chancellor of Andhra University and of Banaras Hindu University.

From The Lecture Hall To The Highest Offices In The Land

Radhakrishnan's move into public life didn't dilute the teacher in him - it simply gave him a bigger classroom. He served as India's ambassador to the Soviet Union, then as the country's first Vice President from 1952 to 1962, and finally as its second President from 1962 to 1967. In 1954, he was awarded the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honour.

Colleagues who worked with him often noted that he still spoke like a lecturer even after becoming Head of State - precise, unhurried, always circling back to first principles. It's consistent with what he believed about the profession itself: "Teachers should be the best minds in the country."

Why September 5 Stuck

Plenty of countries mark a global observance for teachers - World Teachers' Day, observed on 5 October under UNESCO since 1994, commemorating the 1966 ILO/UNESCO Recommendation on the status of teachers. India's date is different by design. It isn't a UN calendar entry; it's a personal refusal that became institutional habit, repeated in classrooms for six decades because one president decided his birthday was less interesting than his profession.

Bottomline

Radhakrishnan could have let 5 September become a day about him - the philosopher-president, the Oxford chair, the Bharat Ratna. Instead, he redirected it toward the people who rarely get a headline of their own. That's the part of the story schools tend to skip in the rush to organise a function: Teachers' Day exists because a teacher, offered the spotlight, pointed it at his colleagues instead.