Monday, Mar 17, 2014
Dubai: Sunny Varkey wants to regain respect for the teaching profession, and the Chairman of GEMS Education is putting up some serious money to back up this goal — $1 million (Dh3.67 million) as annual prize money for the best teacher in the world.
Nominations opened this week at the Global Education Forum in Dubai and the first recipient will be chosen next year. The award - the equivalent of a ‘Nobel Prize’ - will operate under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President, Prime Minister, and Ruler of Dubai. It will underline the importance of the teaching profession and symbolise the fact that teachers throughout the world deserve to be recognised and celebrated.
In the past, “respect for teachers was taken as a given [but] respect, reward and the status of teachers has diminished over a period of time,” said Varkey. “Today, you will find there is a shortage of good teachers, and not too many good students choose teaching as a profession.
“The whole exercise of what we are trying to do with this prize money is make an attempt to celebrate teachers as stars, make it as prestigious as winning a Nobel or an Oscar. It’s very much an annual award.”
The $1 million prize is open to any educator, current or former, “who has made the greatest impact on learning and student development in their nation”, according to Varkey’s GEMS Foundation. Obviously, the net is being cast wide to seek out the educator with the best credentials.
Geography is not a limitation, as individual nations can nominate their own candidates. The selection process is exhaustive and the winner will be decided by an independent judging panel. The consultancy, PwC, will audit the awards process.
“It’s a process, and initially there might be certain challenges, but as we go along it will become quite easy for us,” said Varkey. “We are trying to make a statement — the money [part] is one thing, but we are trying to talk about the prestige [associated with the prize]. There are so many teachers who would strive to get this award.
Half of the prize money will go to the teacher and half to the school.
“Teachers’ awards have been there for a long time and many countries do this, but in a very small way and with very small incentives.
“At GEMS, we are talking about making the world a better place and we want teachers to make it better. If you have bad teachers, you are going to have a bad generation.”
For Varkey, it is also a highly personal statement of intent. “We are a Dubai-born brand and we are becoming a global company. The prize is a global initiative from Dubai.
“As we go along, we will add more varieties to the prize. We have 800-odd people for the [Global Education and Skills] Forum. Many of them share their ideas and experiences, and we want best practices to come to Dubai from the rest of the world. People coming for the conference are those who care for the world and who care for education.
“We are competing in the international arena, we have to make sure of the quality of education and quality of the children coming out.
“A good school is what the teachers are made up of and a good teacher is someone who makes a difference to a child’s life.”
By Manoj Nair Associate Editor
Gulf News 2014. All rights reserved.
