The world’s best teacher award for 2019 has been awarded to Peter
Mr Tabichi, who is a member of the Franciscan religious order, has been a teacher for 12 years. He gives away 80 percent of his monthly income to support pupils who otherwise could not afford uniforms or books. Notably, most of his students are orphans or from poor families and single-parent homes.
“Every day in Africa we turn a new page and a new chapter… This prize does not recognise me but recognises this great continent’s young people. I am only here because of what my students have achieved,” the 36-year-old Egerton University graduate said. “This prize gives them a chance. It tells the world that they can do anything.”
The organizer of the event, Dubai-based Varkey Foundation, praised Tabichi’s “dedication, hard work and passionate belief in his students’ talent”.
Finalists for the world’s best teacher award 2019 were selected from more than 10,000 nominees and applications from 179 countries around the world.
Some of the finalists who Mr. Tabichi beat out to get the world’s best teacher award were Ms Daisy Mertens, an all-subjects teacher (Netherlands), Andrew Moffat from Parkfield Community Schoo l(United Kingdom), Débora Garofalo a Technologies for Learning teacher from Brazil, Martin Salvetti, Head of Automative Studies and Adult Professional Training from Argentina, Hidekazu Shoto, an English language and ICT teacher at Ritsumeikan Primary School in Japan, Swaroop Rawal, a life skills teacher at Lavad Primary School in Gujarat, India, Melissa Salguero, a music teacher also from United States, and Vladimer Apkhazava, a civic education teacher at Chibati Public School in Georgia.
