Teachers' Day 2025: Nobel Prize nominations to Bharat Ratna, here are interesting facts about Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan

Teachers' Day is celebrated across India to mark the birth anniversary Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan on September 5 every year.

Radhakrishnan was India's first vice-president and the second president after Dr Rajendra Prasad. He was also a scholar, teacher and a renowned philosopher.

He was respected by students and suggested a group of students, eager to celebrate his birthday to observe it as Teachers' Day.


Ever since 1962, schools and higher educational institutions across India observe the day by paying tribute to Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan and to all teachers of the country.

Teachers Day 2025: Interesting facts about Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan

Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan was born on September 5, 1888, in Thiruthani, Tamil Nadu. He was an outstanding student and studied philosophy at Christian College, Madras. He went on to teach ta several colleges including University of Mysore and the University of Calcutta. He was appointed as the Vice-Chancellor of Andhra University, Delhi University and the Banaras Hindu University.

He was also the first Indian to hold a chair at the University of Oxford, the Spalding Professor of Eastern Religion and Ethics (1936-1952).

Further, in 1930, he was appointed Haskell lecturer in Comparative Religion at the University of Chicago. Radhakrishnan led the Indian delegation to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and was elected chairman of UNESCO's executive board in 1948.

In 1952, Radhakrishnan became the first Vice President of India in 1952 and the second President of India in 1962. He was awarded the Bharat Ratna, the highest civilian honour in the country in 1954.

Radhakrishnan was nominated 27 times for the Nobel Prize; sixteen times for the Nobel prize in literature, and eleven times for the Nobel Peace prize.

Some of his works include Indian Philosophy, (1923-27), The Philosophy of the Upanishads (1924), An Idealist View of Life (1932), Eastern Religions and Western Thought (1939), and East and West: Some Reflections (1955).