A Canadian teacher Maggie MacDonnell who teaches at a school in a fly-in only village in the Arctic won a $1-million Global Teacher Prize in Dubai.
The Nobel-style award was set up three years ago by the Dubai-based Varkey Foundation. The prize is paid in instalments and requires the winner to remain a teacher for at least five years.
Maggie MacDonnell, praised for “changing the lives of her students and transforming her community”, was among 10 finalists chosen from 20,000 nominations and applications from 179 countries.
She has taught for the past six years in the Inuit village of Salluit, in the Canadian Arctic, which has a high rate of suicide, according to her biography provided by the award organisers.