Featured Teacher
monthly income to help the poor. His
dedication, hard work and passionate
belief in his students’ talent, has led
his poorly-resourced school in remote
rural Kenya to emerge victorious, after
taking on the country’s best schools in
national science competitions.
After his momentous win, I had an
opportunity to interview him and dig a
little deeper to find out what motivates
someone to become such a beacon of
selflessness in this world. Read on to
learn more about Peter Tabichi the
Global Teacher Prize winner for 2019;
What inspired you to become
a teacher?
From an early age I was always
impressed by teachers. I always
observed the work that teachers do
and how they work tirelessly to uplift
their community. I grew up close to
the profession because my father was
a teacher. I look up to my father and
growing up, I was always impressed
by how much he cared for his family
and his students. As I grew, I became
more and more drawn to service and
to the profession and so I decided to
become a teacher.
Describe your school
I teach at Keriko Secondary School
which is located in a rural area in Kenya.
My school lacks most of the basic
facilities. Our students come from
very poor backgrounds and so when
they come to school they struggle to
learn as all their basic needs have not
been met. Many students struggle to
concentrate in the mornings when they
arrive as they have not eaten anything.
As a school we do our best to help and
feed the students but there is so much
more that needs to be done. The roads
in our community are generally very
bad and during the rainy season they
often become impassable and so that
really affects attendance adversely.
The class sizes are big and the lack
of equipment makes it difficult for
teachers to deliver lessons properly
but they do try to do their best with
what they have.
In spite of all the difficulties being
faced by the students, they still have a
drive to succeed. When our students
are given programmes which uplift
them and they are given a chance
to shine they really work hard. I work
alongside my colleagues to run science
programmes using the little resources
we have, to challenge our students to
become Innovative and they normally
surprise us.
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May - Jun 2019
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