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 "Sometimes there are 35 to 40 children in one class and many of the teaching tools we have are outdated ...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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coastaldigest.com news network
May 19,2020

Udupi, May 19: Within minutes after health and family welfare department announced four fresh covid-19 cases in Udupi district, a girl who had come from central part of Karnataka tested positive for the coronavirus thereby taking the count of cases detected after last evening to five. 

With this the total number of confirmed covid-19 cases in the district rose to 16. Three among them have recovered. One patient died last week. There are 12 active cases. 

According to sources, the 17-year-old girl from Chitradurga had visited KMC hospital in Manipal for cancer treatment on May 16. 

Her throat swabs were sent for corona testing on the following day. Today she obtained a positive report. Hence, she was shifted to Dr TMA Pai Covid hospital.

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News Network
April 12,2020

Bengaluru, Apr 12: As many as 17 new cases of coronavirus were confirmed on Sunday in Karnataka, taking the total number of infected to 232, the health department said.

This includes six deaths and 54 discharges.

According to the bulletin issued by the health department, six cases were reported from Vijayapura, four cases in Belagavi, three each in Bengaluru city and Kalaburagi and one in Mysuru.

Among the 17, four people are suffering from Severe Acute Respiratory Illness (SARI) -- two of whom are in Bengaluru and one each in Vijayapura and Kalaburagi, the department said.

Following the sudden spurt in cases in Vijayapura, the department has initiated contact tracing.

Ever since the outbreak of COVID-19, Bengaluru continued to top the list with 76 cases, followed by Mysuru with 48 cases, Belagavi with 14 cases, Kalaburagi with 13 cases and Dakshina Kannada with 12 cases.

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coastaldigest.com news network
March 2,2020

Abu Dhabi: Yogish Prabhu K is the newly elected president of Abu Dhabi’s prestigious India Social & Cultural Centre (ISC) and he will serve for the period 2020-2021. ISC’s annual general body meeting and Election for 2020 were held on Thursday, February 27 and the election results of the election were announced during the early hours of Friday, February 28th morning.

In the keenly contested election, Yogish Prabhu emerged victorious. Humble origin and hailing from a small town of Karkala from Udupi district of Karnataka state has never deterred him from setting challenging goals. He belongs to a well-known Gouda Saraswat Brahmin family of K.V.Prabhu Coconut oil mill in Karkala. He is the eldest son of Late Rtn. Krishna Prabhu and Rtn. Bharati Prabhu.  His father and grandfather were freedom fighters who left a profound impression on him and their ideology “serving people is like worshiping God” (Jana seveye Janardhana seve) inspired and guided his life ever since. Prabhu has been a privilege member of ISC since 2003 and has been actively involved in ISC activities throughout. His relationship with ISC spans over 2 decades during which he has immensely contributed in many ways to ISC and the Indian community at large. A banker by profession, Yogish Prabhu is currently working as Vice President, Group Finance & Treasury, First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB).

With some new initiatives in his mind, Prabhu wants to creatively improve the quality of ISC’s services, its humanitarian impact as well as the diversity of its membership. His intentions are always to help everyone irrespective of caste, creed, religion, language or status. As a new elected President of ISC, Prabhu’s main objective is to strategically plan and implement his vision through his ABC 5 Year Plan i.e.,

A-    Accountability & Transparency,

B-    Build a Sound Financial Plan and

C-    Compassion & Affection for the needy

so that ISC is recognized not just in UAE, but worldwide as a mascot of the great Indian community.

Prabhu thinks “as individuals, we can do only so much but with the support of Elected ISC Committee members and all the ISC members together, there is no limit to what we can achieve, and in the process, we can truly transform the ISC”. He proudly says, “I have a strong treasury management experience in ISC as well as in the bank which we need now more than ever”.

With his dynamic leadership, sheer dedication and ambition, ISC will definitely be scaling new heights of glory and prestige in Abu Dhabi and beyond. His humble nature, leadership qualities coupled with his rich administrative experience will surely help boost ISC’s popularity and meet its challenging goals and can serve people in a better way and contribute to the Indian community at large.

Yogish Prabhu has been married for 28years. His wife Chethana Prabhu Kasaragod too has been equally active in ISC and continuously supporting and participating in various sports, entertainment and literary committees throughout these years. She became ISC Women’s Forum Convener in 2016-2017. Their daughter, Aarti Prabhu is an IT Engineer from NITK Suratkal, working in Bangalore. Son, Ajith Prabhu finished his Masters in Mechanical Engineering and Management in Industrial Design in Queens University, Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK and at present doing his internship there. Both Aarti and Ajith are alumni of Abu Dhabi Indian School and both have represented National level CBSE Badminton meet. Also, Aarti was a Gold medalist in the school for scoring 100 in Mathematics in SSLC.

Following are few of his contributions and achievements:

•          Hon. Asst. Treasurer of ISC for consecutive years from 2005 till 2007

•          Hon. Treasurer of ISC in 2011.

•          Member of Finance Committee of ISC new infrastructure and premises from approval till completion.

•          In 2016, initiated the participation of ISC members as officials for International Yoga Day organized by Indian Embassy

•          In 2017, initiated the participation of children as officials to help the organizers so that children could learn their social responsibility and become good citizens.

•          In 2012, initiated ladies throw ball tournament in ISC and now it is extended to men too.

•          Member of IPEF since its inception in 2014. Also served as its Governing board member in the same year.

•          Founder member of ‘UAE GSB group’ since its formation in 2004

•          Committee member of ‘Gandhi Sahitya Vedi’ Abu Dhabi

•                    Treasurer of Abu Dhabi Karnataka Sangha

•          Head of Finance and member of other committees of ‘World Tulu Convention’ held in Dubai - 2018

 

Election was held for other Posts too. The other office bearers elected to the present committee are:

Vice-President: George Varghese.

General Secretary: Jojo J Ambooken

Asst.Gen.Secretary: C. George Varghese

Treasurer: Shijil Kumar N K

Entertainment Secretary: Jayapradeep K P

Literary Secretary: Elias Padavetty

Sports Secretary: Freddi J. Fernandes

Secretary Southern Region: Raja Srinivasa Rao Aita

Auditor: G.N.Sasikumar

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