Another Kenyan could follow in Tabichi footsteps
By Bernard Gitau, March 20, 2020
Bernard Gitau @benagitau
A Kenyan teacher has been named in the top 50 shortlist for the Global Teacher Prize 2020.
Biology and Chemistry teacher Linah Anyango from Changamwe Secondary School, Mombasa, becomes the second Kenyan to be nominated for the prize, where the winner gets Sh100 million.
Anyango was nominated for starting a cultural music club 10 years ago which reduced radicalisation of the youth, enabled the students to open up, share and appreciate each others’ cultures and the beauty in their diversity.
Stefania Giannini, Assistant Director General for Education at Unesco, said: “This promotes peace among students and reducing radicalisation which was a big problem.”
The Sh100 million award is the largest prize of its kind and was last year won by a Kenyan, Peter Tabichi.
The Maths and Physics teacher at Keriko Secondary School, Pwani village in Nakuru, yesterday said he was proud a Kenyan has been nominated.
“I am so proud that a Kenyan teacher has been shortlisted for the Global Teacher Prize 2020. Winning the prize last year was such an honour, but more than that it was a tremendous platform to help me promote STEM (Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) learning among young people in Africa,” he said.
He said Anyango is doing just that in the incredible work she does every day and I wish her all the best.
Anyango, was selected from over 12,000 nominations and applications from over 140 countries around the world.
Apart from Music Club, Anyango helps girls to improve their performance in sciences.
She started a Girls in STEM club to inspire them to take up courses and careers related to the subjects after school.
Her efforts resulted in an increase in the number of girls taking up physics from none in 2017 to 22 in 2019.
ESKOM fair
The girls gained courage to participate in various STEM fairs and competitions.
Last year, the school had two girls’ teams in the National Science Fair with one emerging the best nationally and selected to represent the country in the ESKOM Fair in South Africa.
Having trained and coached more than 200 teachers from within and nearby schools on ICT Infusion, Microsoft selected Anyango as a Microsoft Educator Expert and Trainer.
The Varkey Foundation Global Teacher Prize 2020 in partnership with Unesco will be held in London this year.
The Global Teacher Prize was set up to recognise one exceptional teacher who has made an outstanding contribution to the profession as well as to shine a spotlight on the important role teachers play in society.