Just a few months after Peter Tabichi hit the headlines by winning a prestigious global award, a Mathematics and Chemistry teacher at Asumbi Girls High School, Mr Eric Ademba, has been recognized as the best teacher in Africa in this year’s inaugural Africa Union Continental Teacher Prize held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
The award was conceptualised and made a reality just after the World Teacher’s Day on October 5, when the African Union requested its member states to nominate two outstanding teachers (male and female) for the prize.
Though Kenya’s Teachers Service Commission (TSC) also nominated Mrs. Damaris Mwende of Mbooni Boys High School, Ademba emerged victorious in the overall category having undergone a vigorous selection process by the continent’s well established education experts.
The Asumbi Girls teacher, a school located in Homa Bay County, won the top prize because his chemistry students ranked among the top 10 in the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education exams the last two years.
TSC Chief Executive Officer Nancy Macharia hailed the win, saying that Kenya was the home of the world’s best teachers.
“Coming months just after Peter Tabichi emerged the best global teacher, we are proud of the caliber of staff that are attending to our children in Kenya,” Ms Macharia said.
Mr Ademba was also the first runners-up for the Teacher of the Year (TOYA) Awards in Kenya in 2018.