Three Pakistanis shortlisted for Cambridge’s ‘Dedicated Teacher’ award

List of six finalists will be unveiled early next year

As many as three Pakistani teachers have been shortlisted for Cambridge University Press’ the ‘Most Dedicated Teacher Award 2020’.

This was disclosed on Wednesday as the Cambridge University Press (CUP) released a 50-member shortlist which included teachers from across the world.

The three teachers from Pakistan to make it on the shortlist include Rawalpindi division resident Samara Farrukh, who teaches at the Beaconhouse school system’s Pothohar Campus. Others on the list include Haider Ali from the Resource Academia International School in Lahore and Zunaira Abubkr from the Lahore Grammar School.

The shortlist has been created from over 6,000 nominations which CUP received from 97 different countries between October 1, and November 29, each describing an inspiring story about a current primary or secondary teacher and the hard work they do every day.

All entries were analysed using competition criteria to select 50 strong candidates. The criteria included whether teachers prepared students for their future beyond school and ‘made the ordinary, extraordinary.’

From this shortlist, a panel of experts will choose the six top finalists. The public will then have the opportunity to vote for their favourite story when the finalists are announced via the CUP Education social media channels on January 20, 2020.

The overall winner will be announced on February 3.

The finalists will feature on a page at the beginning of every new Cambridge University Press Education textbook which is scheduled to be released next May. They will also win class sets of books or digital resources and a host of other prizes.

The winning candidate will also be invited to the Cambridge Panel, an online community of teachers and researchers that help to shape the Press’s education publishing.

“Teachers say and do life-changing things every day – often without realising it,” explained Cambridge University Press’ Education Director Michael McGarvey.

“This could be something as simple as a kind word at a difficult time or explaining a concept in a way that suddenly makes everything click into place for the student,” he said.

Last year, accounting teacher Ahmed Saya from the Cordoba School for A-Levels in Karachi won the ‘Dedicated Teacher Awards’, beating out competition from some 4,000 other nominees from some 75 countries around the world.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 19^th, 2019.