Turkish teacher wins 'global teacher' award in India

By Mustafa Cavus

SAMSUN, Turkey (AA) - Nurten Akkus, a kindergarten principal in the Black Sea province of Samsun, won the "global teacher" award in New Delhi.

With her projects in her kindergarten, Akkus earned the prize of AKS education awards on Sunday among 12,000 teachers who had participated from 73 countries.

She started the "Tell me a story, father" project 10 years ago to encourage male role models at homes to be more active in education. The project was implemented in 45 provinces of Turkey.

Akkus also came up with the "toy piggy bank" project to meet the children's needs for toys at rural schools in 43 provinces of Turkey.

The teacher, who returned to Turkey, told Anadolu Agency that she was very happy and proud of the award.

Last year, Akkus was named one of the top 10 teachers in the world by the British Varkey Foundation.

Nurten teacher had the chance to become the first and only Turkish teacher to be named among the top 10 teachers in the world.

Akkus has been invited to Azerbaijan, North Macedonia, Romania, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and Czechia -- formerly called the Czech Republic -- to share her experiences with the teachers.

AKS education awards are given to "outstanding educators for the eminence and effectiveness of their teaching, their specialized leadership, their engagement with the community," according to their website.