Filipino Teacher is among top 50 finalists in Global Teacher Prize

Francis Jim Tuscano, an educator from Abra, has made it to the top 50 finalists of the 2017 Global Teacher Prize (GTP), an award conferred to an exceptional teacher throughout the whole world for his or her incomparable efforts and contribution to the teaching profession.

Image grabbed from globalteacherprize.org

Tuscano is the only Filipino in the list of the prestigious award by the Varkey Foundation under the patronage of HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President, Prime Minister, and Emir of Dubai. The finalists were chosen from among 20,000 nominations from 179 countries.

“I have made my multi-touch book, iPad Activities for the Christian RE Class, dedicated to guiding Filipino and international Religious Educators with use of the iPad in class,” Tuscano said. The book was a finalist in the 2016 iBooks Author Conference in the United States, under the category, Best iBook of the Year (Education, Overall).

Tuscano was also awarded the Pineau-Clifford Educator’s Award for Outstanding Faculty at his school, and in 2015 he was additionally made an Apple Distinguished Educator. In 2016, his book on Religious Education classes was a finalist at the US iBooks author conference for best educational book.

With the prize funds, Francis plans to collaborate with the Department of Education to create a well-structured professional development plan for teachers. This would centre initially on his home school and incorporate a campaign to get pupils to code.

“If I win the grand prize, I plan to use it for teacher training for public schools and to set up coding and robotics for public school students,” he said

Source: pia.gov, sunstar.com, globalteacherprize.org