For the last six years, the Varkey Foundation has partnered with UNESCO to award one wonderful person with the title of “Global Teacher of the Year.” In addition to the prestigious honor, the winner gets a cash prize of $1 million. So it’s no wonder that more than 12,000 teachers across 140 countries were nominated this year.
After a tough elimination process, the competition came down to 10 finalists. Ultimately, the title went to Ranjitsinh Disale, a teacher in rural India who focuses on promoting girls’ education – and who even learned another language to translate his class’ textbooks into their native tongue. Obviously, he is amazing at what he does, but his passion goes further than his own students!
When he found out he won, he donated half of his winnings to the nine other finalists so they could put more money toward their programs as well. That means each of them will receive $55,000 to help the children in their communities!
“I believe that if I share this prize money with nine teachers, it means I can scale up their work,” Ranjitsinh explained. “Their incredible work is still worthy. … If I share the prize money with the rest of the teachers they will get a chance to continue their work… and we can reach out and lighten the lives of as many students as we can.”
As for the rest of his winnings, they will help launch “an initiative to ensure that each year, at least 5,000 students from the war-afflicted countries of the world are recruited into a Peace Army.” Ranjitsinh hopes to maximize the money to reach as many kids as he possibly can!
This is the first time in the competition’s history that a winner has made such an amazing donation. It’s a true testament not only to Ranjitsinh’s passion for furthering education, but also to his selfless character. We need more heroes like him in the world!
See the moment he finds out he won the award in the video below, and be sure to share this story with your friends.
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