Dubai: Saudi educator Mansour al-Mansour has been awarded the $1 million Global Teacher Prize for his exceptional contributions to education and community service. The award was presented at the World Governments Summit in Dubai on Thursday.
A teacher at Prince Saud bin Jalawi School in al-Ahsa, Al-Mansour is widely respected for his charitable initiatives, including a program that provided air conditioning maintenance to underprivileged families during Saudi Arabia’s extreme summer heat. He is also deeply involved in prisoner rehabilitation, helping inmates learn to read and write, which has led to reduced sentences for many.
Al-Mansour has a strong commitment to orphan education, highlighting that orphans often lack access to quality schooling. “People provide food and water to orphans, but education is neglected. I want to change that,” he said after receiving the prize from Dubai’s Crown Prince Sheikh Hamad bin Mohammed Al Maktoum. He plans to use the prize money to build a school for orphans.
The Varkey Foundation, which established the award in 2015, recognized Al-Mansour as the first teacher from the Gulf region to receive this honor. His dedication to education, social upliftment, and prisoner rehabilitation sets a powerful example for educators worldwide.
