For the first time, a teacher from Ukraine, Artur Proydakov, made it to the top ten educators in the world according to the Global Teacher Prize. He teaches children Ukrainian language and literature.
This is stated on the website of the award.
In 2021, Projdakov won the national prize Global Teacher Prize Ukraine. The teacher is from Kadiivka, now a Russian-occupied city in the Luhansk region. After the occupation, he worked in a public school in Romny, Sumy Oblast, and then at the Midgard school in Kyiv.
When Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, Artur Proydakov organized Ukrainian language courses for immigrants in the Ivano-Frankivsk region, free webinars to prepare children for the National Multi-Subject Test, became the author of lessons at the All-Ukrainian Online School. The teacher is also the executive director of MriyDiy educational foundation.
According to Proydakov, his mission is to inspire teachers from all over Ukraine to continue being agents of change. He dreams of returning to Donbas and teaching Ukrainian language and literature there in order to integrate the region into the modern life of a European country.
"Our finalists came from all over the world. From teaching in remote towns and villages to urban schools, they advocate for inclusiveness and childrenʼs rights, integrate migrants into classrooms, and nurture their studentsʼ abilities and confidence. All of them are fighters for change," is how the finalists are described on the website of the Global Teacher Prize.
Meanwhile, one more Ukrainian made it to the list of the 50 best teachers in the world — Lyudmila Tabolina, a teacher of Ukrainian language and literature, a finalist of the Global Teacher Prize Ukraine 2019.