Teacher transforms slums in India into open-air classrooms: wins $1M prize

An Indian teacher who has founded more than 800 learning centers across India for children who have never attended school has been named the winner of GEMS Education’s $1 million Global Teacher Award.

Located in more than 100 slums and villages, Rouble Nagi classrooms offer safe and inspiring spaces to help overcome the challenging conditions imposed by poverty—child labor, early marriage, irregular attendance and lack of infrastructure.

Instead of seeing these realities as obstacles, Ms. Nagi has designed an education based on real life: flexible schedules for working children, hands-on learning with recycled materials, and practical skills that demonstrate immediate value to families.

As a result, their programs have reduced dropout rates by more than 50% and significantly improved long-term school retention.

Rouble plans to use the $1 million prize money to build a free vocational institute and digital literacy training program to help transform the lives of millions of more marginalized youth.

It all started after she was asked to do an art workshop as an artist in her early 20s. “I met a boy who had never seen a pencil, and it was the turning point of my life.” (Watch the video below…)

Over the past two decades, it has helped more than a million children enter the formal education system, and one of its not-so-secret secrets is art.

He has transformed abandoned walls into large interactive murals that teach everything from reading, mathematics and science, to hygiene, history, environmental awareness and social responsibility.

The murals, funded through her nonprofit Rouble Nagi Art Foundation, are not decorative works of art, but rather outdoor classrooms that draw children into learning, engage parents, and turn entire neighborhoods into partners in education.

“Rouble Nagi represents the best of what teaching can be: courage, creativity, compassion and an unwavering belief in the potential of every child,” said Sunny Varkey, who founded the annual Global Teacher Award and GEMS Education.

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“By bringing education to the most marginalized communities, it has not only changed individual lives, but it has strengthened families and communities.”

Now in its tenth year, the Global Teacher Prize, which collaborates with UNESCO, is the largest prize of its kind, with Nagi selected from more than 5,000 nominations and applications from 139 countries.

“This moment reminds us of a simple truth: teachers matter. UNESCO is honored to celebrate teachers like you, who, through patience, determination and belief in every learner, help children go to school, an act that can change the course of a life,” said Stefania Giannini, UNESCO Deputy Director-General for Education.

Rouble, who is also the author of the book, The Queen of the Slumstravels extensively across India, working directly with children in learning centers and mentoring the teachers who lead them.

It has recruited and trained more than 600 volunteer and paid educators, creating a scalable model that meets children where they are: academically, socially and economically.

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Along with her work in education, Rouble is an internationally recognized artist. Through Rouble Nagi Design Studio, he has created over 850 murals and sculptures and exhibited in 200 shows around the world, with his work selected for the permanent collection of the President of India.

“Their work reminds us that teachers are the most powerful force for progress in our world.”