Nepal, South Africa and Venezuela to receive UN prize for boosting education

Three institutions from Nepal, South Africa and Venezuela will be recognized for supporting and improving teachers’ effectiveness in developing countries, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) announced today.

The Rato Bangala Foundation, the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences Schools Enrichment Centre, and the Banco del Libro will be awarded the UNESCO-Hamdan Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum Prize for Outstanding Practice and Performance in Enhancing the Effectiveness of Teachers during a ceremony in Dubai in April.

The three institutions will be recognized for their outstanding work in the education field in developing countries or within marginalized or disadvantaged communities, UNESCO said in a news release.

Founded in 2002, the Rato Bangala Foundation is a non-governmental organization that provides training programmes to primary and some secondary school teachers in Nepal. It works closely with the Bank Street College of Education in New York, and the Kathmandu University in Nepal, as well as with Nepal’s Social Welfare Council.

The African Institute for Mathematical Sciences Schools Enrichment Centre provides educational opportunities to disadvantaged communities in South Africa and introduces new skills to the teaching of mathematics, having provided courses to 800 teachers from all over South Africa since it was established in 2003.

Venezuela’s Banco del Libro, first established as an exchange centre for used books in 1960, promotes reading and children’s literature in Latin America by setting up schools and public libraries. It also created a library network to select and recommend children’s books.

The three institutions will share the $270,000 prize, which is awarded every two years with funding from Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum of Dubai.