Global Teacher Prize 2021: Meghana Musunuri, Satyam Mishra From India Among Top 50 Finalists

Global Teacher Prize 2021: In what can be visibly seen as a global accolade for the Indian teaching community, Meghana Musunuri from Hyderabad and Satyam Mishra from Bihar, have made it to the list of top 50 finalists for the prestigious US $1 million 2021 Global Teacher Prize

The development is significant in the light of Ranjitsinh Disale, a ZP primary school teacher from India winning the prestigious US $1 million Global Teacher Prize 2020 for transforming the life chances of young girls at the zilla parishad primary school at Paritewadi in Solapur, Maharashtra

Acknowledging the Global Teacher Prize 2021 qualified candidates, Sunny Varkey, founder of the Varkey Foundation, which organizes the award in partnership with UNESCO said, "Congratulations to all the Top 50 finalists. Their stories clearly highlight the importance of education in tackling the great challenges ahead - from climate change to growing inequality to global pandemics"

"It is only by prioritising education that we can safeguard all our tomorrows. Education is the key to facing the future with confidence," Varkey added

The top 50 finalists were filtered and shortlisted for the Global Teacher Prize 2021 from over 8,000 nominations and applications from 121 countries around the world.

Two Indian Teachers Among Top 50 Finalists

This year two teachers from India have figured in the top 50 finalists for the Global Teacher Prize 2021 that carries a purse of USD 1-million

Meghana Musunuri

Meghana Musunuri - a social studies, english, and mathematics teacher from Hyderabad, India in one of the teachers to have made it to the list of top fifty the Global Teacher Prize 2021 finalists.

Musunuri is an education futurist, philanthropist, and a passionate and prolific entrepreneur and has been honoured with many accolades including Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan Teacher's Excellence Award 2020 for her outstanding services in the field of education, especially for promoting youth encouragement.

She is the Founder & Chairperson of Fountainhead Global School & Junior College; Founder of conservation NGO Save Water And Nature (SWAN); CEO of My Edu Guru; and the Hyderabad Champion for Google's Women Entrepreneurs On The Web (WEOW) - the first person to be part of and complete all the five circles of the WEOW programme and guides women entrepreneurs in establishing their online presence.

To read more about Meghana Musunuri click here

Satyam Mishra

Satyam Mishra is the other Indian teacher who has figured amount the top 50 finalists for the Global Teacher Prize 2021. Mishra is a maths teacher from Bhagalpur, Bihar, India, who is determined to change the way children look at the world through his pedagogy.

He first got the teaching bug at age seven when he taught his 72-year-old grandmother to read and he never forgot the experience of having the power to free people from illiteracy.

Girls education is a cause close to Satyam's heart and he was the first Indian to be invited to teach at the Malala Yousafzai All Girls' School, a school Malala herself started for Syrian refugee girls in Beqaa, Lebanon, with even a UN Under-Secretary-General commenting on Satyam's "noble task."

He is the first from his state to be a Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert, a certified Apple Teacher, and a National Geographic Certified Educator for introducing technology to under-resourced schools and student-led research on climate change and awareness.

To read more about Satyam Mishra click here

Click here to see the Top 50 finalists for Global Teacher Prize 2021

What Is Global Teacher Prize

The Global Teacher Prize is a US $1 million award presented annually by the Varkey Foundation, in partnership with UNESCO, to an exceptional teacher who has made an outstanding contribution to their profession.

The Global Teacher Prize serves to underline the importance of educators and the fact that, throughout the world, their efforts deserve to be recognised and celebrated. It seeks to acknowledge the impacts of the very best teachers - not only on their students but on the communities around them.