Palestinian who grew up in refugee camp wins $1m Global Teacher Prize

[email protected] (CD Network)
March 14, 2016

Dubai, Mar 14: "I did it ... Palestine won," shouted Palestinian teacher Hanan Al Hroub after Pope Francis announced her name in a televised statement at the Global Teacher Prize award in Dubai on Sunday. The national flag of Palestine rose high and proud after the winner was announced.

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The Global Teacher Prize, hosted by the Varkey Foundation, awarded $1 million to Hanan, the second person until now to get the best teacher title.

Hanan, who grew up in a Palestinian refugee camp and now is a teacher of refugees, specialises in supporting children who have been traumatised by violence.

His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of UAE and Ruler of Dubai, presented the award to a very emotional Hanan after a star-studded event, which was also attended by Shaikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai.

With special televised messages from Joe Biden, Vice-President of the US; Bill Clinton, former president of the US; Prince William, Duke of Cambridge; and physicist Stephen Hawking, the event marked a historic moment towards the appreciation of teachers.

Hanan was one among the 10 finalists for the Global Teacher Prize. She took the opportunity to congratulate all her co-nominees and said that as teachers "(we) can build the morals of young minds to ensure a fair world, a more beautiful world and a more free world."

Hanan also took the opportunity to highlight the state of violence in her home country and how only education can change mindsets and bring about a positive change for the future. "There is no doubt that we live in unnatural conditions. Violence and Israeli occupation surrounds us from all sides ... Our task as teachers is complicated as we see daily the suffering in the eyes of our students and our teachers."

In an earlier interview, she said that she faces severe shortages and infrastructural limitations in her classrooms. "Sometimes there are 35 to 40 children in one class and many of the teaching tools we have are outdated ... We have very little infrastructure. With the winning, I intend to change that," said Hanan. "I want to invest more in the education and psychological betterment of students."

Joe Biden said he was impressed to see how the UAE is paving the way for education via a televised statement. He said: "Education is the key to future opportunity and the key to unlocking a life-long journey of learning is a teacher."

Prince William said teaching is an incredible responsibility and that the Royal Foundation of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry "is honoured" to be partnering with the Varkey Foundation on various schemes that celebrates teachers.

Reem Ibrahim Al Hashimi, Minister of State for International Cooperation, said: "Great teachers are also great artists; they are possibly the greatest because their canvas is the human mind."

She said teachers are the true architects of the future.

Vikas Pota, CEO of Varkey Foundation, said: "Without teachers there is no progress."

Actors Salma Hayek, Matthew Mcconaughey, Abhishek Bacchan, Parineeti Chopra, and Akshay Kumar also made announcements at the prize ceremony.

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Comments

abdullah
 - 
Tuesday, 15 Mar 2016

congrats dear sister ...

Bopanna
 - 
Monday, 14 Mar 2016

Just because she is Muslim she is given an award. Appeasement at its best

Tiger Beary
 - 
Monday, 14 Mar 2016

Hey khaki cheddi naren..
sorry sorry, brown pants naren..
where the hell were you these days???
we badly miss u man!!
We love u so much machcha...

Pokar
 - 
Monday, 14 Mar 2016

thanks for the joke. also thank for mentioning in the beginning of the comment that you are going to present a joke..

Naren kotian
 - 
Monday, 14 Mar 2016

hahaha good joke ... is she a good teacher ? to fund Hamas and islamic jihad , arab milk shakes gives this type of bounty ,just like hawala... may be she was doing her best to create intifada in our israel and judea samaria ( our dearest and beloved friend ),. hahaha ... jai ho israel ... jai bharath mata ... jai indo- isarel relationship ....narendra modiji ki jai ... benjamin netanyahu zindabad ...hahaha

S.M. Nawaz Kuk…
 - 
Monday, 14 Mar 2016

Congrats Sister

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News Network
March 26,2020

New Delhi, Mar 26: While the humans are on lockdown and spending time with their families, animals are free and without any fear roaming around on the otherwise busy roads. From Malabar civets to large Indian bisons, animals are enjoying this time.

Indian Forest Officer Susanta Nanda recently shared a video with the caption, "Indian bison( the gaur) goes for a street walk. The largest extant Bovine, is native to South and Southeast Asia. It can be very aggressive. Rare to see in markets."

The 8-second video shows the large animal freely walking in the market area of Chikmagalur district, Karnataka, while the few onlookers on the road get aside and watch the Bison with utmost amazement.

The videos of animals having a gala time on the roads have become common. After the video was posted online, it became a hit. The clip garnered over 3.1k views and over 100 retweets.

Twitter is amazed at the video. Have a look at the comments.

One user wrote, "Oh! We should vacate this place for them. Guess humans have stayed for too long."

Another Twitter user wrote, "That’s one thing people would follow social distancing with!"

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News Network
February 15,2020

Bengaluru, Feb 15: The new Karnataka Minister for Forest Anand Singh on Friday said that he is ready for 'change in the portfolio' as opposition parties are leveling charges against Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa for appointing him, despite having 15 cases registered under Forest Act against him.

"If Chief Minister wants to change my portfolio, I am ready," he added.

Speaking to newsmen here, he said that there are 15 cases pending against him. The Legislator from Vijayanagara in Mine rich Ballari district said anyone can go through the Chargesheets and find out whether there are any direct charges against him. Claiming that the cases against him were 'minor violations', he had earlier linked them to traffic violations by a vehicle owner.

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Agencies
January 9,2020

Alappuzha, Jan 9: The houseboat of Nobel Laureate Michael Levitt was blocked in the backwaters here for some time by trade union activists, who were on a nationwide strike against the Centre's "anti-labour" policies on Wednesday.

Michael Levitt, an American-British-Israeli biophysicist and a professor of structural biology at the Stanford University in the United States, said the incident sent a bad message to tourists.

Levitt, who was in Kerala as a state guest, also said he felt as if a bandit had stopped his wife and him at gunpoint. Police said Levitt, who received the 2013 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, was in Alappuzha with his wife and they were stopped by the protesters near Kainakary.

"Being stopped by criminals on the backwaters sends a very bad message to tourists. It is as if a bandit stopped us at gunpoint and delayed us under the threat of force for one hour," Levitt wrote in an email to his tour agent at Kottayam.

In the email, which was later released to the media, he also said the person who blocked them "ignored all arguments that tourists were exempted" from the strike.

"This person, who did this, ignored all arguments that tourists were exempted and that I am a VIP guest of the Kerala government. He was obviously acting, knowing that he was safe from prosecution. Sadly, this makes me fear that India is sinking into lawlessness," Levitt wrote in the email.

The police registered a case after the houseboat owners filed a complaint in this regard.

Reacting to the incident, state Tourism Minister Kadakampally Surendran said the government would take strong action. "Strong action will be taken against those anti-social elements who stopped the boat. Levitt was here as a guest of the state government. The government had made it clear that the tourism industry was exempted from the strike," he said.

Trade union leaders had also announced that the strike would not affect the tourism industry.

Ten trade unions, including the INTUC, the AITUC and the CITU, had called for the nationwide strike to protest against the labour reforms, FDI, disinvestment, corporatisation and privatisation policies of the Centre and press for a 12-point demands of the working class, relating to minimum wage, among others.

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