Nigerian schools have been urged to apply for a chance to win a $250,000 prize money for the World’s Best School as entry opens for the 2023 competition.
World’s Best School Prizes, founded by T4 Education in collaboration with Accenture and American Express, is one of the world’s most prestigious education prizes that celebrate schools for their pivotal role in developing the next generation of leaders and for their contribution to society’s progress.
According to the organisers, the competition is open to all schools that teach students in compulsory schooling and are legally registered with their respective Ministry of Education or government regulatory authority, including early childhood centres, kindergarten, primary and secondary schools, and online schools.
Vikas Pota, founder of T4 Education and the World’s Best School Prizes, urged governments to take urgent action to tackle the global education crisis and to ensure that quality education is a right not a luxury.
Pota said the best place to start is by working with schools at the coalface to understand what works.
“We founded the World’s Best School Prizes to create the conversations that lead to lasting change. Conversations between educators learning from one another’s vital solutions, and conversations in the halls and corridors of power where leaders must sit up and listen to those on the frontlines,” Pota said.
Pota called on outstanding Nigerian schools to come forward and apply to be part of the competition.
According to Pota, the World’s Best School Prizes were founded as a grassroots solution to help build the systemic change needed in education.
The Prizes, Pota said, will give inspirational schools a global platform, allow them to share their best practices, and help others replicate their innovative ideas.
The five World’s Best School Prizes are for Community Collaboration, Environmental Action, Innovation, Overcoming Adversity, and Supporting Healthy Lives.
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Recall that even before the pandemic, the UN warned that the world may miss its Sustainable Development Goal 4 of ensuring quality education for all by 2030.
Meanwhile, Best Intellectuals Model School, a Nigerian school was named in the top 10 shortlist for the World’s Best School Prize for Overcoming Adversity, during the inaugural year of the award.
The organisers listed the five prizes schools can apply for to include the World’s Best School Prize for Community Collaboration, the World’s Best School Prize for Environmental Action, the World’s Best School Prize for Innovation, the World’s Best School Prize for Overcoming Adversity and the World’s Best School Prize for Supporting Healthy Lives.
The top 10 shortlist for each prize is expected to be announced in June 2023, followed by the top three finalists for each prize in September.
The winner of each prize will be chosen based on rigorous criteria by a judging academy comprising distinguished leaders from the globe including academics, educators, NGOs, social entrepreneurs, government, civil society, and the private sector.
The winners will be announced in October 2023 and a prize of $250,000 will be shared equally among the winners of the five prizes, with each receiving an award of $50,000.
