Prize will enhance teachers' status

Finalists of Global Teacher Prize 2017 at the Global Education and Skills Forum at the Atlantis, The Palm in Dubai. - File photo

Society needs to value teachers more" - this is the message from the Varkey Foundation CEO, Vikas Pota.
He spoke to Khaleej Times ahead of the Global Education and Skills Forum (GESF), which is being organised by the Varkey Foundation and will take place on March 17 and 18 in Dubai. Pota shed light on what visitors can expect in GSEF's fourth edition and on the importance of rewarding teachers.
The theme for this year's forum is "how do we prepare young people for the world of 2030 and beyond?" and will bring together thousands of educators and decision makers.
"The simple thing is that, today, no one really wants to become a teacher and that's the central premise that we're working from," he said. "We did a study in 2013, called the Global Teacher Status Index, where we found out that only in China are teachers are given the same regard as doctors. There's something surely wrong with this. Society needs to value teachers a lot more.
"Now, in education, I think, teachers are very special and for that reason, we emphasise the status of teachers as really important. So, the teacher prize is a move in that direction; certainly, it's a bold statement by my boss, saying that we should effectively be doing a lot more to enhance their status."
Pota also highlighted how the lives of former Global Teacher Prize winners have improved; for example, last year's winner Maggie MacDonnell, a teacher from the Canadian Arctic, who helped students in an isolated community plagued by extreme weather and high teenage suicide rates.
However, Pota said that now, a growing number of people are showing interest in teaching in the same region, ever since MacDonnell's story was told across the world after through the Global Teacher Prize award.
As for the $1million prize itself, the winners are given the award in installments. Pota said this is because it helps the teachers to "take a pause" and have a discussion around how exactly they want to use the money.
"We felt it would be appropriate is to give it in instalments over a period of time. There's been no push back on that, in the sense that no one has really objected to that. We are very transparent. The reason for that, I think, is these teachers take a lot of time to figure out what they want to do with it. It actually encourages them to have that discussion with us, which is a great exchange on how they wish to deploy the money," he said.
"So Maggie, for example, is in the process of setting up an NGO in Canada to promote kayaking and indigenous sports in the community that she feels are no longer exposed to these heritage activities. So that's how she's using the money that she has taken."

Role of teacher now is of a facilitator, guide and mentor