Applications open for world’s first One Million Dollar Teacher prize
Sunny Varkey, Founder of the Varkey GEMS Foundation and Chairman of GEMS Education, announced the formal opening of the application and nomination process for the Varkey GEMS Foundation Global Teacher Prize on the final day of the Global Education and Skills Forum.
This one million dollar award, under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President, Prime Minister, and Ruler of Dubai, will be given to an exceptional teacher who has made an outstanding contribution to the profession.
The award, which aims to have the weight and importance of the ‘Nobel Prize’, underlines the importance of the teaching profession and symbolises the fact that teachers throughout the world deserve to be recognised and celebrated.
Sunny Varkey, founder of the Varkey GEMS Foundation, said:
"The prize is open to currently working educators who teach children enrolled in compulsory schooling, or are below the age of eighteen. Head-teachers with teaching responsibilities are also eligible to apply. The prize is open to teachers in every kind of school and, subject to local laws, in every country in the world. The closing date for applications will be August 31st 2014, and the winner will be announced at the Global Education and Skills Forum 2015 in Dubai next spring.
Applications will be judged by a prize committee, who will meet this October to choose a shortlist of ten candidates. The prize committee will include Sunny Varkey, Founder, Varkey GEMS Foundation; Vikas Pota, Chairman of the Varkey GEMS Foundation; Sir Michael Tomlinson, former Chief Inspector of Schools (England); Ann Mroz, Editor, Times Education Supplement; and Karen Giles, Headteacher, Barham Primary School, London.
A winner will be chosen from these ten finalists in November 2014 by the Global Teacher Prize Academy made up of head-teachers, educational experts, commentators, journalists, public officials, tech entrepreneurs, company directors and scientists from the UK, the US, Indonesia, China, Vietnam, Myanmar, Austria, Pakistan, Philippines, Netherlands, Thailand, Kenya, South Africa, Nigeria, Japan, Nigeria, Uganda, Singapore, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, India and Turkey.
The academy includes prominent names such as Academy Award winning actor Kevin Spacey; Baroness Martha Lane Fox, founder of Lastminute.com; the Grammy winning jazz musician and singer Esperanza Spalding; US social activist and educator Geoffrey Canada; Nigerian businessman Jubril Adewale Tinubu, Group CEO, Oando; Strive Masiyiwa, Founder & Executive Chairman, Econet Wireless, South Africa; British philosopher David Rodin; Hadeel Ibrahim, the Executive Director of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, and Jiang Xueqin, Vice-Principal, Tsinghua International School, China.
The public can nominate a teacher, or teachers can apply themselves, by filling an application form at http://globalteacherprize.com . If teachers are being nominated, the person nominating them will write a brief description online explaining why. The teacher being nominated will then be sent an email letting them know they’ve been nominated and inviting them to apply for the prize. Applicants can apply in English, and from May onwards, in Mandarin, Arabic, French, Spanish and Portuguese. To join the conversation online follow #TeacherPrize on: www.twitter.com/TeacherPrize and www.facebook.com/TeacherPrize
Teachers who are applying will have to provide references from their current supervisor and up to two additional references. These can include video testimonials about their work in the classroom and beyond, and can come from pupils, colleagues, head-teachers as well as members of the wider community.
The winner will be paid the prize money in equal instalments over ten years, and the Varkey GEMS Foundation will provide the winner with financial counselling. Without compromising their work in the classroom, the winner will be asked to serve as a global ambassador for the Varkey GEMS Foundation, attending public events and speaking in public forums about improving the prestige of the teaching profession. A condition of winning the prize is that the winner remains as a classroom teacher for at least five years.
-From GEMS Inbox
