Peter Tabichi, a Kenyan maths and physics teacher won $1 million for being the world’s best teacher at a ceremony held in Dubai on Sunday, March 24.
The 36-year-old Tabichi left his job at a private school to join Keriko Mixed Day Secondary School in Pwani Village where he gives away 80% of his salary to support his students.
Even though Keriko Secondary School has one computer, poor internet, a student-teacher ratio of 58:1 and students walk 7km to reach the school, Tabichi managed to nurture his students to win national and international awards including.
- First in the public school’s category at the 2018 Kenya Science and Engineering Fair after inventing a device that allows blind and deaf people to measure objects
- The Mathematical Science team qualified to participate at the INTEL International Science and Engineering Fair 2019 in Arizona, USA
- Won an award from The Royal Society of Chemistry after harnessing local plant life to generate electricity.
Other major achievements at Keriko Secondary School since Tabichi arrived include
- Cases of indiscipline have fallen from 30% to just 3%
- Students who went to college increased from 16 (2017) to 26 (2018)
- Increase in female student pass rates
- Improved digital literacy skills
- Enrollment doubled to 400 over three years
The Varkey Foundation Global Teacher Prize was announced at the end of a three-day Global Education and Skills Forum by actor Hugh Jackman at the Atlantis in Dubai.
Tabichi is the fifth winner of the $1 million Global Teachers Prize that is paid over 10 years to recipients with innovations that can be scaled and impact the community beyond the classroom.
Watch the moment Peter Tabichi was announced as the winner of the Global Teachers Prize
