Lagos Teacher Wins $10,000 African Union Teacher Prize
Kehinde Adeleye
Adeola Adefemi, a multiple award recipient, added the 2023 African Union Continental Teacher Prize winner to her list of accomplishments.
The award was announced on Thursday afternoon by Wodon Quentin, the Director of UNESCO in charge of the International Institute of Capacity Building in Africa. Adefemi is an English teacher at Keke Senior High School in Agege.
The honor was given as a part of celebrations for World Teachers’ Day that took place all around the world this year.
The prize, according to the AU, aims to support exceptional educators around the continent as well as raise the profile and prominence of educators in Africa at all levels.
The union went on to say that fulfilling the goals of Agenda 2063, which call for unity, peace, and prosperity on the continent, depends greatly on the status of teachers in Africa.
Adefemi was awarded a brand-new SUV by the Lagos state government for winning the Best Teacher Award in Lagos State the previous year. Later that year, she was awarded another SUV by the federal government after winning Nigeria’s Presidential Best Teacher Award.
Now, with her latest award, Adefemi, who also won the 2020 Fulbright Teaching Excellence and Achievement Award, received an award plaque, a certificate of recognition, and a cash prize of $10,000 for the feat.
In 2020, Olalekan Adeeko, a teacher in Ogun State, won the AU Teacher Prize from Nigeria since its establishment four years ago.
The African Union Commission honours a maximum of eight teachers who have been found exemplary in service delivery in the classrooms and also in the communities among teachers from the various regions of the continent on a yearly basis.
