Female Palestine teacher wins Global Teacher Award 2020

Palestinian teacher Asma Mustafa has won the Global Teacher Award 2020, Palestinian news agencies reported.

Asma Mustafa, an English Teacher in Halima Al Saadia Intermediate School for Girls, north of the besieged Gaza Strip, graduated from the English language department at the Islamic University of Gaza in 2008.

“Palestine deserves to lead global education,” is Mustafa’s vision that stimulated her progress in teaching English and then led her to participate in international conferences.

She impressed thousands of teachers from 110 countries and won after she participated in the teaching competition, presenting a range of creative resources in teaching.

One of her creative works was writing books such as The Forty-Five Games to Teach English to Non-Native Speakers and Educational Trips Around the World to Teach English Language Skills.

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During the COVID-19 lockdown, Mustafa started the Teachers Behind Screens initiative aimed at training teachers virtually.

The Global Teacher Award: “Gives tribute and reward to outstanding educators for the eminence and effectiveness of their teaching, their specialised leadership, their engagement with the community.”

Speaking about her teaching approach to Anadolu Agency, Mustafa explained: “I have noticed much progress among my students who are subject to electronic teaching which includes games and activities.”

She noted that this was the main reason that encouraged her to apply for the award, hoping to launch Palestine on international platforms.

Mustafa indicated that there are many problems undermining the dreams of most Palestinian teachers and students in the besieged Gaza Strip, including the lack of electricity and poverty as most families in Gaza cannot afford the necessary equipment to enable their children to participate in virtual and electronic education.

Gaza has been under a strict Israeli and internationally-backed siege for more than 14 consecutive years. It suffers from a severe lack of electricity, clean water, medicines, and medical equipment.