A Canadian who teaches at a school in a
fly-in-only village in the Arctic has won a $1m (£800,000) Global
Teacher Prize at a ceremony in Dubai.
She has taught for the past six years in the
Inuit village of Salluit, Québec, in the Canadian Arctic, which has a high rate
of suicide, according to her biography provided by the award organizers.
Maggie MacDonnell was among 10 finalists
chosen from 20,000 nominations and applications from 179 countries.
MacDonnell has created a life-skills
programme specifically for girls in a region where teenage pregnancies are
common, alongside high levels of sexual abuse, according to her biography.
The Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau,
congratulated MacDonnell in a video message. “We are all proud of you,” he
said.
MacDonnell, who has also been a temporary
foster parent in the Inuit community, was handed the award at a ceremony on
Sunday that opened with a performance by the Italian tenor Andrea Boccelli.
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.
credit: theguardian
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