Funmi Ogundare
Two Nigerian teachers, Tijani Mukaddas and Adeola Akinsulure have been shortlisted among the world’s top 50 educators for the GEMS Education Global Teacher Prize 2026, a prestigious Varkey Foundation initiative, organised in partnership with UNESCO.
Mukaddas, a science teacher and founder of the Transit School Initiative in Abuja, earned recognition for tackling Nigeria’s out-of-school children crisis. His flexible, skills-based learning model has helped his community to become the first in the country to record zero out-of-school children. The model, now adopted nationally, has benefited over one million vulnerable children through mobile teaching, digital lesson recordings, safe spaces for girls, house-to-house enrolment drives and an accelerated curriculum that blends academics with vocational skills.
Akinsulure, a Biology teacher at Omole Senior Grammar School, Ikeja, Lagos, was recognised for transforming students’ performance, despite overcrowded classrooms and limited technology. Through creative, low-cost teaching methods such as role-play, edutainment and short animated videos, she simplified complex science concepts, raising students’ pass rates in regional Biology examinations from 45.3 per cent in 2021 to 99 per cent in 2022. Beyond her classroom, she has trained more than 30,000 pre-service and in-service teachers nationwide, enabling wider adoption of her innovative strategies.
Congratulating the Nigerian educators, founder of the Global Teacher Prize and GEMS Education, Sunny Varkey, said that the initiative was created to spotlight teachers whose dedication, creativity and compassion deserve global recognition.
UNESCO’s Assistant Director-General for Education, Stefania Giannini, also lauded the role of teachers worldwide, describing them as central to educational transformation.
The global teacher prize, the largest of its kind, will narrow the shortlist to 10 finalists. The overall winner will be announced at the World Governments Summit in Dubai between February 3 and 5, 2026.
