Who is Rouble Nagi? Indian teacher honoured with the $1 million Global Teacher Prize in Dubai

Rouble Nagi recently stepped onto the stage at the World Governments Summit in Dubai where she joined a global list. The Indian teacher and social activist was named the winner of the 2025 Global Teacher Prize, a $1 million award that recognises educators whose work has reached beyond classrooms and into communities, the Associated Press reports.

Nagi was honoured for creating more than 800 learning centres across India, many of them located in slums and underserved neighbourhoods where access to formal schooling is limited or absent. Her work focuses on children who have never attended school as well as those already enrolled but struggling to keep up.

Nagi accepted the award in Dubai, where leaders from governments and international organisations had gathered for the annual summit. The prize is awarded by the Varkey Foundation, which instituted the Global Teacher Prize in 2015.

Learning centres built around access, not buildings

The learning centres established by the Rouble Nagi Art Foundation operate outside conventional school infrastructure. As AP reports, they are designed to introduce structured learning to children who would otherwise remain outside the education system.

Many of these centres function in informal spaces within slum communities. They focus on basic literacy, numeracy and continuity with school curricula, allowing children to either enter school for the first time or rejoin formal education after dropping out.

Alongside classroom instruction, Nagi has used public art as a teaching tool. She paints educational murals on the walls of slum settlements, covering subjects such as reading, mathematics, science and history, according to media reports and her socials. The walls become visual learning material that remains accessible even after classes end.

Art as an education tool

Nagi is trained as an artist and has worked across sculpture, painting and installations. Over the years, her work has shifted from galleries to public spaces, particularly in low-income neighbourhoods.

Her initiatives include Misaal Mumbai, a large-scale slum painting project that began with Paint Dharavi in 2016 and later expanded across Mumbai and parts of Maharashtra. According to her foundation, thousands of homes have been painted and cleaned as part of these drives, often with participation from residents.

While the projects are frequently described as beautification efforts, their stated goal is functional. The murals are intended to create safer, cleaner environments while doubling as learning surfaces for children and families.

Recognition from global education leaders

The Global Teacher Prize jury cited the scale and persistence of Nagi’s work in marginalised communities. Sunny Varkey, founder of the Varkey Foundation, said in a statement carried on the prize website that Nagi’s work reflects the role teachers can play beyond classrooms.

UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Education Stefania Giannini said the award highlights the continuing importance of teachers in expanding access to education, particularly for children pushed to the margins of formal systems.

Nagi is the tenth recipient of the prize. Past winners have included educators working in remote villages, conflict zones and underserved communities across Kenya, Palestine, Canada and Saudi Arabia.

What the prize money will fund

Nagi has said she plans to use the $1 million award to build an institute offering free vocational training. The focus, according to AP, will be on skills that can support employment and financial independence, particularly for young people who fall outside conventional academic pathways.

This aligns with earlier initiatives by her foundation, which have included skill development programmes for women and youth in rural and urban areas.

From Jammu and Kashmir to national recognition

Born in Jammu and Kashmir in 1980, Nagi studied political science before training in fine art in London. She later returned to India, where her work increasingly focused on public art and community engagement.

She is also the author of The Slum Queen, a book published in 2022 that documents her work in slums and villages across India, according to media reports.

The Global Teacher Prize places her work on an international platform. But the projects themselves remain rooted in local spaces, classrooms without walls, and learning that begins where children already are.
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