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 "Sometimes there are 35 to 40 children in one class and many of the teaching tools we have are outdated ...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
May 7,2020

Mangaluru, May 7: Thousands of migrant workers from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, led by Congress leader Mithun Rai, staged a protest here on Wednesday demanding that they be allowed to return to their native places.

The workers started a protest demonstration opposite Mangaluru City Corporation office in the city. Police dispersed the crowd for violating social distancing norms.

The workers said they have nowhere to go and nothing to eat. Therefore, they are demanding to be sent back to their states. They however, had crowded together without following the social distance norm. 

In the wake of protest, prohibitory orders under section 144(3) were imposed in Dakshina Kannada district between 7pm and 7 am till May 17 to check the spread of Covid-19.

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News Network
July 12,2020

Bosnia, Jul 12: Bosnians commemorated on Saturday the massacre of about 8,000 Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica, marking the 25th anniversary of killings that shocked the world and have stood out as Europe's only atrocity since World War Two constituting genocide.

Nine newly identified victims were buried at a flower-shaped cemetery near the town, where tall white tombstones mark the graves of 6,643 other victims.

"After 25 years we succeeded in finding his mortal remains, so they can be laid to their final rest," said Fikret Pezic, who buried his father Hasan.

The remains of some 1,000 victims of the massacre in the eastern town during Bosnia's 1992-1995 war are still missing.

Ifeta Hasanovic decided to bury incomplete remains of her husband, saying: "We were aware they cannot be complete after 25 years, at least there are some, I did not want to make any new delays."

World leaders addressed the ceremony by video link, unable to attend because of coronavirus epidemic. Instead of the tens of thousands visitors who typically attend the commemoration each year, only a few thousand came after organisers banned organised visits.

During the Bosnian war, Bosnian Serb forces pushed non-Serbs out of territories they sought for their Serb statelet. Fleeing Muslims took shelter in several eastern towns, including Srebrenica, that were designated as United Nations "safe zones".

On July 11, 1995, the Serb forces commanded by General Ratko Mladic overran Srebrenica, which was protected by lightly armed Dutch peacekeepers.

They sent women and children away and captured and executed the men and boys they found. The bodies were dumped into mass graves and later exhumed by U.N. investigators and used as evidence in war crimes trials of Bosnian Serb leaders.

"We grieve with the families that tirelessly seek justice for the 8,000 innocent lives lost, all these years later," said U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Washington brokered Bosnia's peace deal months after the massacre.

Most people at the commemoration were Muslim Bosniaks, reflecting conflicting narratives about the bloodshed - which hinders reconciliation nearly 25 years after the end of war in which about 100,000 people were killed.

The U.N. war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia convicted Mladic and his political chief Radovan Karadzic over Srebrenica genocide but they remained heroes for Serbs, many of whom deny that genocide happened.

On Saturday, the Serbs in the nearby town of Bratunac organised an event marking July 11 as the "Srebrenica Liberation Day".

Sefik Dzaferovic, the Bosniak chairman of Bosnia's tripartite presidency, called for legislation that would ban denial of genocide.

"There can be no trust as long as we witness attacks on the truth, denial of genocide and glorification and celebration of executors," Dzaferovic told the commemoration gathering.

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News Network
May 10,2020

Gadag, May 9: It is the month of April, and the season of mangoes is very much here. However, the mango farmers of Gadag are suffering huge losses amid the coronavirus lockdown due to the absence of transportation facilities along with several other issues that have been impacting their business adversely.

Speaking to media persons, Vishwanath Odugowdar, a mango farmer said, "Due to transportation problems we are not being able to export mangoes to different countries. We are trying to sell them in nearby markets."

"We are not in a situation to pack, transport and export the mangoes to different countries as we did earlier especially 
when it comes to Alphonso mangoes which is one of the most loved varieties. So, we are packing mangoes at our place. Somehow this year we have got very good quality of mangoes," he added.

Farmers here are incurring huge losses as mandis and markets across the country are shut while the transport of Alphonso mangoes has also come to a halt owing to the lockdown.

The small and medium scale farmers in places like Gadag, Dharwad, Bagalkote in north Karnataka have started packing the mangoes themselves in their farms in a bid to sell the fruit themselves.

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