Millicent Cassaines has been nominated for the Global Teacher Prize, sponsored by UNESCO, for the second time.
She is a P1 teacher and is only the second Kenyan to receive this nomination, following Peter Tabichi in 2019, who won the award money.
She will be in competition with 49 other teachers from around the world for the prestigious Sh. 147 million ($1,000,000) prize.
Her nomination is owed to her compassionate efforts in assisting children with special needs in her village.
Cassaines is a P1 teacher at Amoyo Primary School and also Senye Special Unit. Her choice to work two jobs to help kids not feel neglected by society, motivated her to establish her own school BL Tezza Complex Primary School.
She holds a degree in inclusive education, guidance and counselling from Kenya Methodist University (KEMU). After completing her undergraduate, she took out a bank loan to buy land and build the school.
Cassaines ensures the children who attend her school can have hope for a brighter future. Most of them tend to feel neglected, discriminated, uneducated and abandoned as they struggle to claw their way out of poverty.
“Cassaianes, chose special needs education specifically to be able to serve this vulnerable group, going to Kenya Institute of Special Education and studying for a diploma in special needs education, specialised in learning difficulties, and to Kenya Methodist University for a degree in inclusive education, guidance and counselling.”
She has changed the narrative for these kids with special needs, by guaranteeing that they will not miss out on their childhood due to any form of disability.
“Rising to the challenge she registered for Kenyan sign language tuition and came back to search for more hidden children, starting BL Tezza Special School for the Deaf with a handful of children and growing it through community sensitization sessions in churches, chief’s meetings, addressing public forums and home visits.”
Currently, her school based in the Lake Victoria region, operates with over 120 deaf children. She actively engages them in constructive environmental activities such as tree planting.
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Together with the pupils, they also run school projects such as vegetable and poultry farming, from where they can source their food.
This kind of inclusion is what got her noticed by Global Teacher Prize stakeholders. Every year, one lucky teacher gets to walk away with a handsome cash prize.
Teachers should aim to make an outstanding contribution to their profession.
Those that were nominated this year were courtesy of their acts in promoting inclusivity and child rights, integrating migrants into classrooms, and nurturing students’ abilities and confidence.
Other than Cassaines, other African nominees among the batch of 49 include James Kidiga David (Tanzania), Therese Mabaka Angelani (DRC), Eric Asomani Asante (Ghana), Stephanie Akinwoya (Nigeria) and Mokolwane Masweneng (South Africa).
