The world's best teacher won $1 million for the work she has done at a school located in one of the U.K.'s poorest areas, beating 30,000 other entries from 173 countries, for the top honors.
London arts and textiles teacher Andria Zafirako, from Alperton community school, made history as the first British winner of the Varkey Foundation Global Teacher prize on Sunday when she received the award in Dubai, according to The Guardian.
Teaching at Alperton meant Zafirako has faced numerous obstacles, but she has found a way to conquer them.
The school, where over 30 languages are spoken, is known for its ethnic diversity and is also where some of the poorest families send their children, who are often exposed to gang violence, according to a news release by the Varkey Foundation.
Many students have limited skills and feel isolated from staff.
Zafirako learned the basics of most of the languages spoken within the school walls and redesigned the curriculum across all subjects from scratch so that it could better resonate with her students.
Through her efforts, Zafirako was able to help boost academic performance at Alperton, putting the school in the top 1 percent to 5 percent of the country in terms of qualifications and accreditations.
Accepting her award on Sunday, Zafirakou said that the community where she taught was beautifully diverse and multicultural but was also a community where many students were forced to live in challenging circumstances.
"They have tough lives," she said, according to The Independent. "What is amazing, is whatever issues they are having at home, whatever is missing from their life or causing them pain, our school is theirs."
The $1 million will be paid to Zafirakou in instalments over five years, The Guardian noted.
Speaking about how she planned to spend the money, the teacher said she was going to reflect, but added that it would be "really fantastic if I could think about how the arts could be celebrated even further within our school community."
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