$1m Global Teacher Prize 2017 up for grabs

In a country where teachers often cry of poor pay, this could be an opportunity to reward the most inspirational teacher in your community.

The Global Teacher Prize worth $1m (about sh2.5b) is up for the 2017 award to the exceptional teacher who has made an outstanding contribution to their profession.

According to a statement released last week, the prize serves to underline the importance of educators and the fact that, throughout the world, their efforts deserve to be recognised and celebrated.

"It seeks to acknowledge the impacts of the very best teachers not only on their students but on the communities around them," the statement reads.

The prize is open to currently working teachers who teach children that are in compulsory schooling, or are between the ages of five and eighteen but also part time and teachers for online courses. It is open to teachers in every kind of school and, subject to local laws, in every country in the world.

Pupils of Enderu Primary School in Northern Uganda

 
The public can therefore nominate a teacher, or teachers can apply themselves by filling an application form at globalteacherprize.org.

According to the statement, if teachers are being nominated, the person nominating has to write a brief description online explaining why.  The teacher being nominated will then be sent an email letting them know they have been nominated and inviting them to apply for the prize.   

Applicants can apply in English, Mandarin, Arabic, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Russian and the closing date is 14th October 2016.

The applicants for the Global Teacher Prize 2017 will be shortlisted down to a top fifty and then a final ten, which will be announced in February 2017.

The winner will be chosen from the ten finalists by the Global Teacher Prize Academy made up of prominent individuals.

All ten finalists will be flown to Dubai for an award ceremony taking place at the Global Education and Skills Forum in March 2017 where the winner will be announced.

Last year, the award which is an initiative of the Varkey Foundation was won by Palestinian teacher Hanan Al Hroub. She developed a ‘play and learn' technique to help traumatized Palestinian primary school children.

In her acceptance speech Al Hroub said that  the role of education for refugee children is not only to teach them to read and write, it is also to give them the resilience and persistence they need to deal with what they have experienced, and to avoid repeating the violence they have witnessed. 79% of children had experienced a death in the family, while 45% displayed symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder, 10 times the usual prevalence in children.

The Palestinian teacher who became the second ever winner of the Prize called on African teachers to participate.

Among the top 10 teachers selected last year from over 8000 applications was Ayub Mohamud, a business studies teacher at Eastleigh High School in Nairobi, Kenya

Mohamud is described as passionate about innovation, design and creativity and tries to equip students with the skills to become successful social entrepreneurs. This has seen his students develop roofing tiles from recycled waste with potential to change the lives of millions of slum dwellers in areas affected by poverty, cholera, malaria and disruption during Kenya's rainy season.

"Teachers matter. Teachers like Hanan Al Hroub, who heal young minds as well as teach them, are a shining example to us all. Now, more than ever before we need great teachers to grow great minds in order to solve the world's problems. Raising the bar of respect and celebrating teachers across the world will ultimately play a vital role in helping to recruit and retain the most talented candidates for the profession," Sunny Varkey, the founder of the Global Teacher Prize, said.