Actor-educator in the running for $1mn Global Teacher Prize

MUMBAI: Indian life skills teacher Swaroop Rawal, who is also an actor, has been shortlisted for the Global Teacher Prize 2019 and has a shot at winning $1million.
Rawal, who works with children to equip them with life skills through drama and is on the board of the newly constituted Maharashtra International Education Board, is among the top 10 contestants from 179 countries. The winner would be announced in Dubai on March 24.
Starting 2013, the Varkey Foundation set up the Global Teacher Prize to recognize one teacher who has made an outstanding contribution to the profession as well as to shine a spotlight on the important role teachers play in society.
Sixty-year-old Rawal started her journey as a teacher after a long sabbatical from her acting career. “I was involved in the PTA at my children’s school... Here I was introduced to learning disability and did a course in special education. I wanted to focus on social learning and equipping students with life skills. I started using drama to do this,” she said. She works with underprivileged children and holds free workshops for teachers and students.
If she wins, Rawal plans to use the money to form a think tank to create and promote special curricula for pre-vocational education in primary schools. “This will aim to ensure that children are informed about a variety of possible occupations wherever they live in India as early as class III,” said Rawal, who had won the Miss India contest in 1979.
When the top 50 were announced in December, Delhibased government schoolteacher Arti Qanungo was also on the list. An English teacher at the Government Girls Senior Secondary School, Delhi, Qanungo has been creating awareness about menstrual hygiene among students and parents.