Mumbai Educator Who Turned Slum Walls into Classrooms Wins $1M Global Teacher Prize 2026

For her commitment to education and her activism, the Indian teacher Rouble Nagi has been recognised with the GEMS Education Global Teacher Prize 2026, which comes with a million dollar prize.

The Prize is part of the Varkey Foundation's initiative by UNESCO and the award ceremony was held at the World Governments Summit in Dubai, bringing together political leaders and government officials from different parts of the world.

For the past twenty years, Nagi through her Rouble Nagi Art Foundation (RNAF) has set up nearly 800 learning centres in more than 100 highly deprived communities of India.

To children who have not been to school, these centres offer them the opportunity of structured learning. They also help children who are already in the formal education system to catch up with their studies and offer them creative enrichment too.

At the heart of her activities are the "Living Walls of Learning" which are essentially educational murals through which children can learn literacy, numeracy, science, hygiene, history, environmental awareness, and social responsibility.

These works of art are not simply to beautify the wall or house but rather serve as neighborhood classrooms for children and also communicate with parents and members of the community.

Nagi's approach is geared to address the issues of poverty, child labour, early marriage, erratic attendance and lack of facilities in schools, among others, her model is geared towards addressing these issues.

Flexible schedules, learning through experience with recycled materials, and the development of practical skills make education both accessible and relevant. Her programmes have led to a decrease in dropout rates by more than 50 per cent and have positively influenced long, term school retention.

Besides, she has already educated over 600 volunteer and paid teachers, thus generating a scalable model able to serve various needs of children's academic, social, and economic areas.

Rouble is determined to invest her prize money in establishing a training school that will provide vocational and digital literacy courses for free. This initiative is expected to grant an entirely different dimension to the issue of marginalised children and young people.

A GLOBALLY RECOGNISED ARTIST

Along with her educational work, Nagi is an artist of worldwide recognition and leader of urban renewal.She has created over 850 murals and sculptures, exhibited in more than 200 shows worldwide, and was the first artist invited to exhibit at the Rashtrapati Bhavan Museum, with her work included in the President of India's permanent collection.

Her honours include the Jijamata Award, GR8 Award, MAP Noble Artist Award, and HELLO! Urja Award. Rouble Nagi is the tenth educator to be awarded the Global Teacher Prize since the award was created in 2015, thus becoming a part of an outstanding group of teachers who have influenced individuals' lives all over the world.