Adeola Olufunke Akinsulure, a biology teacher from Ikeja-Lagos, and Tijjani Mohammed Mukaddas, a science teacher from Abuja, have earned spots on the top 50 shortlist for the GEMS Education Global Teacher Prize 2026, a prestigious Varkey Foundation initiative organized in collaboration with UNESCO. They were selected from a massive pool of over 5,000 nominations and applications spanning 139 countries worldwide. Now in its 10th year, the $1 million Global Teacher Prize is the largest award of its kind, designed to honor one exceptional educator who has made an outstanding contribution to the profession and society.
Adeola Olufunke Akinsulure, from Omole Senior Grammar School, was recognized for her innovative approach to teaching biology in resource-constrained environments where students face overcrowded classrooms and economic hardship. Drawing on her own past struggles with science, she transformed her lessons using role-play, edutainment, and animated videos to simplify difficult concepts. Despite limited infrastructure, her investment in a rechargeable projector and power station paid off dramatically, boosting her students’ biology examination pass rates from 45.3% in 2021 to a sustained 99% in 2022.
Beyond her direct classroom impact, Adeola has successfully scaled her methods by training over 30,000 pre-service and in-service teachers on her low-cost, creative teaching strategies, creating a powerful ripple effect across Nigeria. This large-scale training ensures that her innovative approach is replicated nationwide, multiplying the reach of high-quality, engaging education. This emphasis on training peers highlights her commitment to improving the teaching profession well beyond the walls of her own school.
The second shortlisted educator, Tijjani Mohammed Mukaddas, is a transformative figure actively working to combat Nigeria’s out-of-school children crisis through his Transit School Initiative (TSI). As the founder and manager of TSI, he developed a flexible, skills-based learning model that made his community the first in Nigeria to achieve zero out-of-school children, a success which has since led to the model being adopted nationally, benefiting more than one million vulnerable children.
Tijjani’s approach, which began in 2003, directly addresses the hurdles of poverty and cultural barriers by combining rigorous academics with practical vocational training in fields like mechanics, tailoring, and carpentry. He implemented house-to-house enrollment campaigns, utilized mobile teaching methods, and created digital lesson recordings, including safe spaces designed specifically for girls facing high social risks, demonstrating a holistic commitment to educational accessibility and social safety.
Congratulating the two Nigerian finalists, Sunny Varkey, Founder of the Global Teacher Prize, emphasized the importance of their work, stating that the prize’s mission is to shine a light on educators whose dedication, creativity, and compassion deserve to be celebrated and shared. Similarly, Stefania Giannini, UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Education, noted that investing in teachers like Adeola and Tijjani is essential if the world is to successfully navigate profound global challenges, from climate action to teacher shortages.
The Global Teacher Prize is open to all working teachers whose dedication, innovation, community impact, and ability to achieve demonstrable learning outcomes are exceptional, assessing candidates on criteria like innovation to address local challenges and improving the profession. The competition will now be narrowed down to a Top 10, with the ultimate winner chosen by the Global Teacher Prize Academy and announced at the World Governments Summit in Dubai between February 3–5, 2026, helping to raise global respect for the teaching profession.