A primary school teacher from a refugee camp in Palestine won USD one million Global Teacher Prize for teaching excellence on Sunday, beating nine other finalists from around the world, including an Indian.
Hanan Al Hroub, a teacher in the West Bank city of al-Bireh just outside Ramallah beat India's Robin Chaurasiya, who runs a not-for-profit school in Mumbai for girls of the sex workers in the district of Kamatipura, and eight other finalists to bag the Varkey Foundation's prize at the end of the annual Global Education and Skills Forum in the city of Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Pope Francis announced her name via video link. Hroub, who is in her early 40s, said that, "I did it, I won. Palestine won. All 10 of us have the power, we can change the world."
She runs the Samiha Khalil High School in Al-Bireh, Palestine, where she uses a specialist approach to overcome tense environments of the region under the shadow of the Israel-Palestine conflict. She developed herself detailed in her book 'We Play and Learn'.
She said, in her part English and part Arabic acceptance speech, that, "I am proud to present to you the message of teachers of Palestine, there is no doubt that we live in unnatural conditions.”
"Violence and Israeli occupation surrounds us from all sides and imposes itself and leaks to each corner of educational process and its components, so our task is complicated as we see daily the suffering in the eyes of our students and our teachers. We want our children to live peacefully, as all children of the world."
Pope Francis said, in reference to the winning candidate, that, "a child has the right to play. Part of education is to teach children how to play because you learn how to be social through games as well as learn the joy of life."
"I suggest that this year is the year of the Palestinian teacher. The world should support us to achieve hope for justice and peace," Hroub said.
Varkey said that, "I want to congratulate Hanan Al Hroub for winning the Global Teacher Prize 2016 from such a huge number of talented and dedicated teachers. I hope her story will inspire those looking to enter the teaching profession and also shine a powerful spotlight on the incredible work teachers do all over Palestine and throughout the world every day."
Nandini
