Indian educator and activist Rouble Nagi was awarded the one million dollar Global Teacher Prize during a ceremony at the World Governments Summit in Dubai on Thursday. Nagi received the prestigious international honor in recognition of her extensive work creating hundreds of learning centers and using public art as a medium for education across the Indian subcontinent. The award ceremony took place in the United Arab Emirates before an audience of global leaders and policy experts gathered for the annual summit focused on governance and social innovation.
Nagi is the founder of the Rouble Nagi Art Foundation, an organization that has established more than 800 learning centers throughout India. These centers are designed to provide a structured educational environment for children who have never stepped foot inside a traditional classroom. In addition to reaching out to those outside the formal school system, the foundation provides supplemental support and instruction for children who are already enrolled in school but require additional resources to succeed. One of the most distinctive aspects of Nagi’s methodology is her use of educational murals. She paints large scale works across the walls of urban slums that serve as visual textbooks, teaching literacy, science, mathematics, and history to community members who might otherwise lack access to such information.
Upon accepting the award, Nagi expressed that the prize was a significant honor not only for her personally but for India as a whole. She reflected on the growth of her mission, noting that her journey began twenty-four years ago with a single small workshop attended by only thirty children. Today, her efforts have reached over one million children across the country. Nagi remarked that every step of her career has motivated her to continue working toward the goal of ensuring every child in India has the opportunity to attend school. She described the experience of fulfilling her childhood dream of universal education as a deeply humbling journey that continues to inspire her daily work.
The Global Teacher Prize is awarded annually by the Varkey Foundation, a charitable organization established by Sunny Varkey. Varkey is also the founder of GEMS Education, a for-profit company that operates dozens of schools throughout Egypt, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates. In a formal statement released on the prize website, Varkey praised Nagi for representing the highest ideals of the teaching profession. He highlighted her courage, creativity, and compassion, noting that her unwavering belief in the potential of every child has helped strengthen families and marginalized communities across India.
The prize money, which totals one million dollars, will be used by Nagi to expand her impact. She announced plans to utilize the funds to build a specialized institute that will offer free vocational training. This new initiative aims to bridge the gap between basic education and employment, providing young people with the technical skills necessary to enter the workforce and achieve financial independence. This move aligns with the foundation’s broader goal of long-term community empowerment through sustainable educational infrastructure.
International educational leaders also voiced their support for the selection. Stefania Giannini, the Assistant Director-General for Education at UNESCO, stated that the prize serves as a reminder of the fundamental truth that teachers are essential to the fabric of society. Giannini emphasized that UNESCO is honored to partner with the Global Teacher Prize in celebrating educators like Nagi. She noted that through patience and determination, teachers can help children enter school and fundamentally change the course of their lives. Giannini’s comments underscored the global consensus that grassroots educational initiatives are critical to meeting international development goals.
Nagi is the tenth educator to receive this distinction since the Varkey Foundation began the program in 2015. Over the last decade, the prize has highlighted the diverse ways in which teachers around the world address unique regional challenges. Past recipients include a Kenyan teacher from a remote village who donated the majority of his salary to support the poor and a Palestinian primary school teacher who integrated lessons on non-violence into her curriculum. Other winners include a Canadian educator recognized for her work with Inuit students in a remote Arctic village and last year’s recipient, Saudi educator Mansour al-Mansour, who was honored for his commitment to serving impoverished populations within the kingdom.
The host city of Dubai provides a unique backdrop for the award, given its own complex educational landscape. The United Arab Emirates has seen rapid growth in its private education sector, largely driven by the needs of its vast expatriate population. GEMS Education, the parent company behind the foundation’s funding, is one of the largest private school operators in the world and has seen its valuation grow alongside the economic development of Dubai. In the local economy, private institutions are the primary providers of education for the children of foreign workers who make up the majority of the workforce.
The recognition of Nagi’s work highlights a growing trend in global philanthropy that focuses on alternative education models. By integrating art and community outreach, Nagi has bypassed traditional barriers to education such as lack of infrastructure and socio-economic isolation. Her foundation’s centers often operate in areas where formal government schools are either overcrowded or geographically inaccessible. The murals she creates serve a dual purpose of beautifying neglected urban spaces while providing passive learning opportunities for residents of all ages.
The World Governments Summit, where the prize was announced, is an annual event that brings together more than 4,000 participants from over 150 countries. The summit focuses on how technology and innovation can solve the world’s most pressing challenges, including education and poverty. Nagi’s victory at this venue places the issue of grassroots educational reform at the center of high-level policy discussions. It reinforces the idea that localized, creative solutions can have a measurable impact on a national scale when supported by international recognition and funding.
As Nagi prepares to launch her vocational training institute, her work continues to serve as a case study for how individual activism can scale into a massive social movement. The transition from art workshops to a national network of learning centers demonstrates the potential for non-traditional teaching methods to reach the most vulnerable populations. With the support of the Global Teacher Prize, Nagi is positioned to further institutionalize her methods, ensuring that the progress made over the last two decades continues to expand and evolve.
The impact of the Global Teacher Prize extends beyond the individual winner, as it aims to raise the status of the teaching profession worldwide. By offering a prize comparable to the Nobel Prize in terms of financial value and prestige, the Varkey Foundation seeks to attract and retain talent in a field that is often undervalued. Nagi’s story of starting with thirty students and reaching a million serves as a powerful narrative for the foundation’s mission to celebrate the transformative power of educators. The focus now shifts to how Nagi will implement her new vocational programs and how her foundation will continue to integrate art and literacy in India’s rapidly changing social landscape.
