This Pakistani teacher hails from one of the remotest villages of Gilgit in Pakistan. Salima Begum went to a school that had only one teacher and two not so well equipped classrooms. Her small classroom and the single teacher that she had inspired Salima so much that she decided to become a teacher herself when she grew up. And that’s exactly what she did, when she grew up.

Despite all odds, Salima Begum loved and vehemently utilized every educational resource available to her and vowed to take her teacher’s legacy forward.

Today, Salima Begum teaches at a local school in Gilgit.

Till date, she has trained almost 7,000 teachers across the province. Moreover, she has further trained 8000 more people through an education reform program.

She has been acknowledged by a colossal number of international platforms. The United States Agency for International Development applauded Salima Begum for her contributions to their Teacher Education project. Furthermore, Salima herself has written several articles on her struggle to teach Gilgit, in local and international publications.

She is currently working as the headteacher of her school, in Gilgit.

Her school has produced remarkable results under her supervision and each and every student has only positive things to say about her.

“Whenever we get bored in class, she keeps us entertained by cracking jokes and even narrate her real life stories for us to learn from,” says one of the students.

Salima Begum, throughout her career, has made girls’ education one of her biggest causes. She has gone to a number of people’s houses and has convinced them to send their daughters to schools.

According to her students, she has also helped her financially struggling students out of her own pocket.

“The most fascinating and inspiring aspect of my teaching career is enabling students to realize their potential and ability to do things differently and make a difference in their personal life as well as influence others to change their practices to achieve their goals,” says Salima Begum herself.

Because of her dedication and selflessness to her community’s education Salima Begum made it to the 10 finalists for the Global Teacher Prize.

According to their official website, “The Global Teacher Prize is a US $1 million award presented annually to an exceptional teacher who has made an outstanding contribution to their profession.The prize serves to underline the importance of educators and the fact that, throughout the world, their efforts deserve to be recognized and celebrated. It seeks to acknowledge the impacts of the very best teachers – not only on their students but on the communities around them.”

This is what the Global Teacher Prize has to say about Salima Begum’s efforts to disseminate knowledge in Gilgit and neighboring areas:

Cover Image Via: Global Teacher Prize