While the film was launched as a branded content piece to celebrate the teaching community on Teacher's Day, the real purpose was to create a larger cultural impact. Creating the title of Tr. for Teacher was more than a symbolic hack. The title created a cultural shift that helped gather institutions, governments and society around the debate on educational reform. And rallied for change and positive action for the rights and needs of teachers, in a country that doesn't value its educators.

The Indian school education system is one of the largest in the world, with over 26 crore students and 95 lakh teachers. However, these school teachers are severely undervalued, many working without contracts, with extremely low salaries and no health or maternity leave benefits.

Navneet Education Limited is India's largest text book publisher. For the last 60 years, Navneet has been partnering with teachers to create content that helps students learn and perform better. But this year, on Teacher's Day 2022, Navneet wanted to celebrate teachers and recognise their role in shaping the country.

Through the communication, Navneet wanted to bring about a change in the way teachers were looked at, but more importantly start a conversation about the value of teachers in a country that didn't value them at all.

India's ed-tech industry is growing tremendously and is estimated to reach $10.4 billion by 2025 with 37 million paid ed-tech users.

Navneet Education Limited is India's largest text book publisher and has been the go-to for students and teachers for the last 60 years. But, with the rapidly emerging trend of online learning, Navneet is quickly losing relevance.

Schools and school teachers for years have been recommending our books to students as study material. As a brand we needed to do something that would help make an impact on these teachers. Something that would make us relevant to them again.

Most highly valued professionals have an official title attached to their name. Ironically, the profession that makes all these professions possible; teachers, don't have one. To bring the value and recognition to teaching, Navneet decided to create an official title for teachers - Tr. for Teacher

The idea was brought to life with a social experiment. People were asked to name the most and least important persons among a panel of four professionals by looking at their names. Three of the names had titles of Dr., Capt. and Justice and were hence deemed more important than the fourth one; an elderly lady with no title to her name.

It was then revealed that she’s a teacher. Not just any teacher. But the one who taught the Captain, Judge, and Doctor. The film urged viewers to sign a petition to help recognise and honour teachers with the official title of Tr.

The campaign was launched on Teacher's Day, 5th September 2022 with a social experiment film. It was aired on several platforms like YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

The film invited the country to reflect on the value of teachers and asked people to sign a change.org petition to create an official title of Tr. for Teacher.

We drove the same conversation on social media with the help of social media posts, stories and videos, asking the public to come together and support the initiative.

We conducted a massive on-ground programme where we reached out to prominent schools to start using the title in their classrooms. And even created a microsite where schools and teachers could create their own personalised Tr. kits to use every day.

Once launched, the campaign stirred a national debate about the respect given to teachers across the country.

Over 350 schools supported the cause and adopted the use of the title of Tr. in their classrooms.

Over 2500 teachers attached the title to their names and created their personal Tr. for Teacher kit. While several also used the title before their names on social media.

The campaign got everyone talking on social media, it saw 250 Million media impressions and earned media of 21.8 MM

And for the first time in years, Navneet Education was talked about online and in the press. So much so, that brand impressions increased by 5,674%

Newspapers and news channels picked up the story and started a conversation that caught the attention of law makers and education ministers. Eventually leading up to the Maharashtra government announcing that the Title of Tr. would be made official.

There are several highly valued professions in India, many of which are considered prestigious and offer significant financial rewards. These are professions like Doctors, lawyers, engineers etc. And one thing all these professions have in common is a title prefixed to the name of the professional.These titles automatically call out the value and stature of the person who uses it.

So much so, that in India these titles are displayed everywhere. On apartment name plates, social media handles, licence plates and of course offices.

Ironically, Teaching, the profession that makes all these professions possible, doesn't come with a title. In fact, it is one of the most undervalued professions in the country. With teachers having to deal with overcrowded classrooms, low salaries, minimal health benefits and above all, a complete lack of respect and recognition.

In India, Teachers' Day is celebrated on 5th September. This is the birth anniversary of the second president of India, Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan who was a great philosopher, teacher.

This day marks the accomplishments, contributions, and efforts of teachers across the country by identifying, celebrating, and motivating them. This day serves as a platform for policymakers and experts to identify and resolve challenges facing the teaching profession. Schools around the world celebrate this day by organising cultural events for their teachers.