Vladimer Apkhazava Makes Top 10 for $1mln Global Teacher Prize

Vladimer “Lado” Apkhazava is one of Georgia’s most remarkable teachers. His innovative and creative teaching methods have impressed parents and students all over the country and this year caught the eye of the Varkey Foundation, which awards the Global Teacher Prize under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates and Ruler of Dubai. The Prize, as the Varkey Foundation explains it, “serves to underline the importance of educators and the fact that, throughout the world, their efforts deserve to be recognized and celebrated. It seeks to acknowledge the impacts of the very best teachers – not only on their students but on the communities around them.”

The winner will be announced on March 24, 2019 at Dubai's Global Education and Skills Forum. The top prize is $1 million.

In 2018, there were over 30,000 applications and nominations for the Global Teacher Prize, including Apkhazava. This morning, the top 10 finalists for the 2019 Prize were announced by Australian actor Hugh Jackman, and Apkhazava’s name was among them. “The real superheroes are teachers; they are the ones who change the world,” said Jackman. He shares his personal experience with impactful teachers, and notes “All of us go through insecurity, and doubt, trepidation, along this journey of life. And those teachers that see the best in us, and are patient enough to allow us to grow into them, they are like gold.”

See the full announcement video here.

Apkhazava teaches civics at Chibati Public School in the impoverished village of Chibati in the Lanchkhuti Municipality of Western Georgia’s Guria region. His work is made even more impressive in the context of the Georgian education environment, where teachers have little to no resources, and to date have not been encouraged to innovate. His biography on the top-50 finalist webpage explains that many of his students’ parents have left Georgia to find work abroad, sending remittances home. His students frequently come to school without having eaten – occasionally a child’s hunger is so severe that the school will call an ambulance to treat them. Child labor is another problem in the region. Many of Chibati’s students drop out of school before graduation, moving to Turkey in search of seasonal work.

Apkhazava responded to these challenges in his region with activism. Despite initial opposition, even from the government, he has drawn attention to these issues, forcing those in power to confront them. He also uses the region’s harsh reality as a learning tool for his students, getting them involved in lobbying their local government and local activism projects. The authorities eventually came around to support Apkhazava, and in 2017, he was awarded the inaugural Georgian National Teacher Prize.

He is known for his emphasis on inclusion: widening school events to be accessible to all pupils, not only the highest achievers, and starting a “Democratic Revolution” after school club that works to make running the school an analogue of state administration processes. The project was popular among both teachers and students and Apkhazava, expanded to 14 other schools.

He has raised funds from private enterprises and companies, and won grants to finance educational resources and spots in summer camps for the most vulnerable students. Apkhazava is also currently fostering eight teenage boys who fled their homes due to domestic violence.

If awarded the Global Teacher Prize, Vladimer says he would use the money to help schools in other regions of Georgia to purchase modern technology or foreign language textbooks. He has also discussed adding cafeterias and a lunch option at schools, equipping 26 school yards with greenhouse farming equipment.

For a better picture of the incredible work Apkhazava does, see the embeded video. 

He shares the finalist stage with some of the world’s best teachers, from nine countries: the UK, the Netherlands, Brazil, Japan, Argentina, the United States, Kenya, India, and Australia.

The final winner will be decided by the Prize Committee, considering the criteria:

• Use of effective pedagogy, that is practically useful and scalable to influence the quality of education globally.
• The use of innovative teaching practices aimed at school, community or nationwide, and the use of which gives sufficient reasoning to suggest that this practice will be effective in resolving such challenges.
• Reaching demonstrated results of teaching in the classroom.
• Exposure to the community beyond the classroom that provides unique and exceptional models of special advancement in learning to the teacher's profession and others.
• Helping students become global citizens and to provide education based on higher moral principles that enable them to work with the world where they can potentially live and work with many different nationalities, cultures and religions.
• Improve the teaching professions through the level of teaching, sharing best practices and helping colleagues overcome any challenge that they may face at school.
• Recognition of teachers by governments, local teaching organizations, school principals, colleagues, community members and students.

The prize money will be disbursed to the winner on an annual basis for ten years, along with financial advisory services. With minimum disruptions to their work in the classroom, the winner becomes a Global Ambassador for the Varkey Foundation, attending public events and delivering speeches at the public forums dedicated to improving the prestige of the teaching profession worldwide.

For more information, visit www.globalteacherprize.org.

By Samantha Guthrie

Photo: Ministry of Education, Science, Youth and Sport