A Bangladeshi teacher, Shahanaj Parvin, who has been nominated for a $1 million Global Teacher Prize last year, has urged parents and students across the country to nominate other inspirational teachers so that their profiles can be upheld in the future sessions of the competition.
Shahanaj, a teacher at Upazilla Sadar Model Government Primary School in Sherpur, Bogra, made it to the Top 50 shortlist of the Varkey Foundation Global Teacher Prize in 2017. Now, she wants other teachers from Bangladesh to be recognised for their hard work and contributions.
She raised the concern for young children in today's world who have to grow up amid "the rise of populism, the threat of terrorism, growing inequality, refugee crisis, rapid technological change and a growing environmental threat.”
She emphasied on the need of good teachers who can "foster great minds" otherwise, she opined, "we will never [sic] tackle the world’s problems."
"If teachers aren’t respected, children won’t listen to them, parents won’t back them, and the most talented individuals will continue to disregard teaching as a fulfilling career option. Over time, this will weaken teaching, damage learning opportunities for millions and ultimately weaken society as uninformed choices can give way to populism and extremism,” she added.
Shahanaj was born in a remote Bangladeshi village to two primary school teachers. From an early age, she felt girls were discouraged from receiving education but she persevered, coming second in the national education board for her secondary exams, and later completing a Masters degree in Islamic history and culture.
Many children in Bangladesh drop out of school in order to financially support their families. However, Shahanaj's contribution, teaching methods that emphasised technology and multimedia applications, has vastly reduced the dropout rate.
Besides regularly conducting training workshops for new teachers, the school teacher has also published a research paper on why students generally fail to achieve a standard primary education.
The Global Teacher Prize was set up to recognise, from across the globe, one exceptional teacher who has made an outstanding contribution to the profession as well as played an important role in society.
The top 50 teachers were shortlisted from over 20,000 nominations and applications from 179 countries from around the world. The shortlist has representatives from 37 countries.
Canadian teacher, Maggie MacDonnell, has won the $1 million top award for the Global Teacher Prize at the fifth Global Education and Skills Forum held at Atlantis, The Palm hotel in Dubai on March 19 this year.
Also Read- Bogra teacher nominated for $1m global award
Thursday, June 04, 2026
