Winner of Global Teacher 2020 shares half of prize money

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File photo shows Samuel poses for a photograph with his pupils at Sekolah Kebangsaan Runchang about 90km from Kuantan. — Bernama photo

KUCHING: Malaysian teacher Samuel Isaiah, named a Top 10 finalist for Global Teacher Prize 2020, expressed his surprise and gratitude as the winner Ranjitsinh Disale from India announced he was sharing half the US$1 million prize money equally among the other finalists yesterday.

In partnership with United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, the award established by the Varkey Foundation is the largest prize of its kind.

Ranjitsinh’s announcement during a virtual ceremony broadcast from London’s Natural History Museum meant the other finalists stand to receive US$55,000 each, marking the first time a winner shared the prize money with other finalists in the award’s six-year history.

Samuel, an English teacher from SK Runchang, Muadzam Shah, Penang described the gesture of sharing prize money as exemplary and selfless.

“In the year of Covid-19, which has brought unimaginable challenges to teachers across the world, he is a shining symbol of the incredible work that teachers do.

“It is why I and the other finalists are so proud to call him our friend. Thank you, Ranjit,” he said.

Ranjitsinh was selected from over 12,000 nominations and applications from over 140 countries across the world.

The Global Teacher Prize was set up to recognise one exceptional teacher who has made outstanding contribution to the profession as well as shine the spotlight on the important role teachers play in society.

In his winning speech, Ranjitsinh said: “The Covid-19 pandemic has exposed education and the communities it serves in a multitude of ways.”

He observed that during this hard time, teachers were giving their best to make sure every student had access to their birthright of a good education.

“Teachers are the real change-makers who are changing the lives of their students with a mixture of chalk and challenges. They always believe in giving and sharing. I believe, together, we can change this world because sharing is growing,” he added.

Unesco assistant director for education Stefania Giannini said they recognised the hard work and sacrifice of teachers who needed all the support they could get to help the next generation find their feet in an increasingly uncertain world.

“Teachers like Ranjitsinh will stop climate change and build more peaceful and just societies. Teachers like Ranjitsinh will eliminate inequalities and drive forward economic growth. Teachers like Ranjitsinh will save our future. I thank you very much.”

Founder of the Global Teacher Prize Sunny Varkey encouraged the winner to use this platform to give all teachers a voice.

“There is not a moment to lose as it will fall on young people to find solutions to problems that their parents and grandparents have lacked the will to solve, including climate change, conflict and global pandemics.

“We must equip young people with an education that will help them build a better tomorrow and that always starts by listening to teachers.”

When Ranjitsinh arrived at the Zilla Parishad Primary School in 2009, it was a dilapidated building, sandwiched between a cattle shed and a storeroom.

Most of the girls were from tribal communities where school attendance could sometimes be as low as two per cent and teenage marriage was common.

For those who made it to school, the curriculum was not in their primary language (Kannada), leaving many students unable to learn at all.

Ranjitsinh was determined to turn this around by moving to the village and going to great length to learn the local language. He not only translated the class textbooks into his pupils’ mother tongue but also embedded them with unique QR codes to give students access to audio poems, video lectures, stories and assignments.

By analysing their reflections, Ranjitsinh changed the content, activities and assignments in the QR coded textbooks to create personalised learning experience for each student.

He also upgraded the QR Coded Textbooks with immersive reader and Flipgrid tools to aid girls with special needs.

The impact of his intervention has been extraordinary as there are now no teenage marriage in the village and 100 per cent attendance by girls.

The school was recently awarded the best school in the district with 85 per cent of his students achieving grade A in annual examinations.

One girl from the village has now graduated from university, an impossible dream before Ranjitsinh arrived.

Ranjitsinh then went on to revolutionise education by creating QR coded textbooks for the whole of India.

His school was the first in the state of Maharashtra to introduce them and after submitting a proposal and successful pilot scheme, the State Ministry announced in 2017 the introduction of QR coded textbooks across the state for all grades 1-12.

Following this success, HRD Ministry of India asked National Council of Education Research and Training (NCERT) to study the impact of QR coded textbooks and how this can be scaled up nationally.

In 2018, HRD Minister Prakash Javdekar announced that all NCERT textbooks would have embedded QR Codes.

Beyond the classroom, Ranjitsinh helps his students apply their learning to tackle real world problems they are facing.

His school in a drought-prone district of Maharashtra has successfully tackled the issue of desertification by increasing green land from 25 per cent to 33 per cent in the last 10 years with 250 hectares surrounding the village saved, earning his school the ‘Wipro Nature for Society’ award in 2018.