Meet The Kenyan Teacher Who Just Won Dhs3.6 Million At The Annual Global Teacher Prize Ceremony
The annual Global Teacher Prize brought some of the biggest names in the music business to the UAE to celebrate the contribution of teachers
Kenyan science teacher Peter Tabichi, widely lauded for his philanthropy, was crowned the winner of the Global Teacher Prize on 24 March. He has been known to give away 80% of his salary to disadvantaged pupils and intends to improve school facilities and invest in community projects with his prize money. Tabichi was congratulated by the Kenyan President, who told him, “Your students have shown that they can compete amongst the best in the world in science, technology and all fields of human endeavour.” Hugh Jackman hosted the ceremony and treated fans, whose hopes of watching him perform at the previous night’s ‘The Assembly’ concert had not been met, to a performance of The Greatest Showman hits, including ‘The Greatest Show’ and ‘Come Alive’.
Original story 24/03/2019
Is Dubai hosting the Grammys? Is RedFest back already? Are Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas holding another wedding reception? If the answer is a resounding no, then why did some of the world’s biggest popstars congregate in Dubai this weekend?
We spotted singers including Rita Ora, Liam Payne, the girls of Little Mix, Loren Allred and Hugh Jackman out-and-about in the city, and it turns out they were on the bill to perform at the inaugural Global Teacher Prize Concert, aptly named ‘The Assembly’.
#Reminder | @LiamPayne will be performing at the Global @TeacherPrize Assembly in Dubai today (23/3). He will be on stage at 7:30pm (GST) local time (3:30pm GMT – 11:30am EST – 8:30am PST) pic.twitter.com/Ve2xi5XVPw
— Liam & Zayn News (@TheZiamNews) 23 March 2019
The Varkey Foundation’s Global Teacher Prize is an initiative paying tribute to the endeavours of educators around the globe. One teacher will receive $1,000,000 (Dhs3,673,000) in recognition of their hard work and contribution to their communities. The ceremony takes place tonight, so the lucky teacher will be revealed in a matter of hours. This year, 10,000 teachers were nominated from 179 countries, the top ten finalists spanning six continents between them. The ten inspiring finalists took to the stage at Dubai Media City Amphitheatre last night to share their stories.
Today’s the day!! pic.twitter.com/UKYX8jZGL1
— Global Teacher Prize (@TeacherPrize) 24 March 2019
Rita Ora was one of the A-listers that graced stage last night, performing hits like ‘Your Song’, ‘Anywhere’ and ‘Black Widow’. She rocked an oversized hot-pink trouser suit in a cherry-blossom print, donning popping colour in a way only Rita Ora could, and completing her look with vibrant matching pink eyeshadow.
Liam Payne also hit the stage to perform some of his recent singles, coming back out to perform a duet with Rita Ora, to fans’ delight.
Little Mix, who were the headline act, closed the show with singles including ‘Woman Like Me’ and ‘Black Magic’.
But one star is yet unaccounted for. Hugh Jackman shared his UAE adventures on Instagram this past week; he took a trip to the desert, posing with a falcon and riding a dune buggy, before visiting the spectacular Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi. Despite announcing the ten finalists for the prize on video, he was not officially named on last night’s line-up.
They say every lesson is a performance, so it’s only right @RealHughJackman joined us tonight! #Surprise #TeachersMatter pic.twitter.com/m7mcYUzcE4
— Global Teacher Prize (@TeacherPrize) 23 March 2019
Fans who speculated that he would make a surprise appearance at the concert were proved right, however, he did not perform as was rumoured. But viewers got their The Greatest Showman fix from Loren Allred, his co-star, who gave a soulful rendition of her hit from the film, ‘Never Enough’.
Jackman himself spent time working as a PE teacher before attending college, so it comes as no surprise that he views the contribution and efforts of teachers as being of the utmost importance.
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