The President of India, Pratibha Patil, has awarded the Hindi Urdu Flagship’s former (and founding) director Herman van Olphen the extremely prestigious Sir George Grierson Hindi Sevi Sammaan Award for a lifetime of service towards teaching and promoting the Hindi language. Van Olphen received the award in a special ceremony in Rashtrapati Bhavan (the Presidential House) on June 20, 2012. Van Olphen has spent over forty years in the field of Hindi education, spearheading numerous initiatives in areas such as curriculum design and assessment. Van Olphen was chosen as the first director for the Hindi Urdu Flagship at its inception in 2006. Since retiring in 2010, he continued to contribute to a number of efforts to promote Hindi education in the U.S. and abroad. Current HUF Director Rupert Snell has also previously received the Grierson award—confirming HUF’s exceptional place at the forefront of Hindi education worldwide.
Watch a video from India’s national broadcaster of Dr. van Olphen receiving the award from the President of India: