$1M global teacher award to be given away today
dubai — The world’s 10 best teachers, who have powered through challenges to offer quality education to their students, will come together in Dubai today for a glitzy ceremony that will see the best among them bag a $1 million prize.
These 10 were shortlisted from a staggering 10,000 nominations from 179 countries that the Global Teacher Prize received.
Sunny Varkey, founder of the Varkey Foundation, said: “The status of teachers in society is directly related to the results of students in their classrooms. Today, education is at a crossroad; it has been tossed in the air and we don’t know where the pieces will fall. There is, however, one thing we can be confident about: Education will change more in the next 50 years than it has in the last 1,000; and in the next 50 years, it will change in ways that will influence the next 1,000.”
The Global Education and Skills Forum — which hosts the award — kicked off in Dubai on Saturday. Rohingya refugees, leaders, education ministers, teachers and change-makers highlighted the importance of quality education at the annual forum.
Education is the key to tackling Islamophobia around the world, young Rohingya refugees have insisted during an education summit in Dubai.
Ahmed Ullah, a 25-year-old from Rohingya, was speaking at the inaugural day of the Global Education and Skills Forum (GESF) in Dubai, where he shed light on the work he was doing to help the Rohingya refugees in Canada.
Myanmar’s Rohingyas, mainly Muslim minorities, have faced persecutions in their country for nearly 40 years. Hundreds of thousands have fled to Bangladesh, especially in 2017 when ethnic cleansing rose significantly.
Ullah was born in a refugee camp in Bangladesh in 1993 and lived there for the first 15 years of his life. During that time, he did not have any access to education. The Canadian government granted him and his mentally ill mother an asylum in the country.
“For the first 15 years of my life, I was working in a coffee shop. I was sponsored to go to Canada at the age of 15 where I now live and study. Now, I fight for the rights of Rohingyas to go to school and get educated,” he told Khaleej Times.
Ullah first worked as a translator in Canada for other Rohingya refugees, then he produced a theatrical show called ‘I Am Rohingya’, where the violent scenes and real-life stories of refugees were re-enacted. Later, he produced a documentary of a similar nature.
“We also formed an organisation called Canadian Rohingya Development Initiative. It is focused on bringing awareness and sharing the Rohingyas’ stories,” he said.
“Muslims are often portrayed as terrorists by the world, but that’s not the case. People need to see who the Rohingyas are. During 40 years of genocide, not a single Rohingya revolted. Yes, in 2017, a few Rohingyas attacked back and that caused a massacre and over 750,000 people fled to Bangladesh. You won’t hear much about that in the world.”
Another young Rohingya, Zainab Arkani, shared how she managed to complete her higher education despite the discriminatory and systematic challenges that she and other Rohingyas faced in Myanmar. After her studies, she helped Rohingyas in Thailand, who were growing up illiterate as they had no access to education due to lack of proper documents and financial difficulties.
Later on, she moved to Canada and started the Rohingya Language School. “I opened the school in 2011 because there is a dire need for education. In Canada, when new refugees arrive, they are put into classes according to their age, but these kids never went to school. For example, if they are 14 years old, they are placed in Grade 9, but these kids haven’t even ever learned their alphabets. The parents are also illiterate, so they can’t help either,” she said.
Arkani added that educating people about Islam can help put an end to Islamophobia and “senseless persecutions of Muslims”.
“Mutual respect can help tackle Islamophobia. If they have open minds and educate themselves on the religion, they will have a clear information on what Islam is. They need to interact with more Muslims and get accurate information.”
In New Zealand this month, 50 Muslims were killed during Friday prayers in a mass shooting.
When you don’t have employment, your life becomes almost a waste because you can’t look after yourself. There is no country in Africa today that should fail to give access to education. When you have education, you can live your life to the fullest.”
Olusegun Obasanjo, former president of Nigeria