“Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world”- Nelson Mandela.
Us humans have come a long way since the dawn of time and learning and understanding about our surroundings has been a massive factor in our rise to where we are now. This quest to feed our curiosity has changed how we view the world around us for the better. Like that, education has always been the cornerstone of how far we have come as a species. Prominent figures and educators have always had an impact on the global education strata through their revolutionary ideas and their out of the box thinking has helped us to be a better version of ourselves. While some teachers just stick on to the job description, some go far beyond what is expected of them and leaves their mark on world history. While there are plenty of names that are worthy of being listed below, we stick with the most important ones that have transcended education like no others.
Savitribai Phule is a well-known Indian educationalist, poet and social reformer who was born in 1831 in Naigaon, Maharashtra. Widely regarded as the first female teacher of India, Savitribai along with her husband Jyotirao Phule has played an integral role in improving women’s rights in India. Savitribai is also considered as the mother of Indian feminism and with the help of her husband she founded one of the first girls-only schools in India. Throughout her life, she had fought to abolish discriminations and unfair treatments based on gender and caste. Savitribai after completing her teacher’s education started to educate girls in the Maharwada region of Pune and by 1851 she and her husband were running three individual girls’ school in Pune.
Savitribai is also a well-known Marathi writer and her poems and literary works have always attracted the attention of the common people. She and her husband have also established two educational trusts named Native Female School, Pune and Society of Promoting the Education of Mahars, Mangs, and Etceteras in the 1850s. She along with her husband opened 18 schools in total and the ideas and philosophies brought in by her have left a mark on modern Indian education.
Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam or more commonly known as Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam needs no introduction and this pioneering personality has been one of the most influential people in India. He has been an inspiration for both the young and old and students from across the country still consider him as a role-model. Born in 1931 at Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam completed his studies in aerospace engineering and physics. He worked as a science administrator and scientist at the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) and Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) for the next four decades before becoming the 11th and one of the most influential Presidents of India.
Dr. Kalam is a visionary and practical education thinker who gives importance to combining tested and proven traditional educational methods with modern educational approaches for creating a balanced society. His various articles, research publications, and books provide deep insights for various studies in ballistics, aeronautics, and metallurgy. He has always focused on providing quality education for the children in rural India and mobilising essential resources for improving the quality of education provided in the country. Dr. Kalam was always advocating the importance of integrating technology in education to evolve with the changing times and thereby equipping our students with the needed skills required to thrive in the modern world. In his book “India 2020” Dr. Kalam focuses on the plans needed to make India a knowledge superpower by 2020. He has received countless awards during his lifetime including being honoured with the Padma Bhushan in 1981 and Padma Vibhushan in 1990. Later in 1997, Dr. Kalam was awarded the Bharat Ratna which is the highest civilian honour for a citizen of India.
Maria Tecla Artemisia Montessori or more famously known as Maria Montessori was a world-renowned Italian educator and physician who is best known for her philosophy of education and writing on the scientific pedagogy. Apart from this, she was also an innovator and she always strived to create teaching methods that makes the whole learning process more organic. She opened her first school named the Casa dei Bambini which translates to Children’s House in Rome on 1907. Later, she circled the globe and wrote extensively on her ideas and philosophies on education and now there are thousands of Montessori schools in various countries across the world.
Maria had a keen interest in education and she immersed herself in educational theories and classes on pedagogy. This combined with her medical practice on psychiatry helped her to derive new educational philosophies that have had a massive impact on modern education. With scientific observations and previous experiences, Maria started to design learning materials and a learning environment that fosters the natural desire of the students to learn which helped her students to thrive and exhibit concentration, and spontaneous self-discipline. Later what became the “Montessori Method” began attracting the attention of prominent educators and public figures owing to the uniqueness and effectiveness of Maria’s educational philosophy. Being a visionary in education, her ideas and approaches are still considered in high regard in the global teaching fraternity.
We are starting off our list with a former first lady of the US, Anna Eleanor Roosevelt. Born on 11th October 1884 in New York, United States, Eleanor is also the longest-serving first lady at the White House. Apart from that, she was also a diplomat and activist who brought her feminist ideas into the White House. Her strong willpower and the ability to see things without bias made her one of the most prominent female political figures in the US at that time. Before becoming the first lady, Eleanor along with a couple of her friends bought the Todhunter School for Girls and this was a crucial point in her life as an educator and this helped her to impart independent thought to her students through her history and literature classes.
Her life as an activist continued even after that with her active involvement in the civil rights moment and it was her philosophy of not being confined to the role of a hostess in the White House which made her different from most other first ladies. Apart from all of this, she was also the Chairman of the commission on Human Rights in the UN and was a cornerstone in the adoption of the universal declaration of human rights in 1948.
McGuffey was a prominent college professor and is famously known for introducing the McGuffey readers, which are elementary-level textbooks that were in high demand between 1863 and 1960. Over 120 million copies of his books were sold during the same period and his innovative ideas left a huge mark in the global education space of that time. He was born on 23rd September 1800 in Pennsylvania, United States. As an educator, he believed that for educating young learners it is important to introduce them to a wide array of topics and practical matters for creating a solid foundation.
He also served as the President of Cincinnati College and Ohio University and was the founder of the common school system of the Ohio state. He was also elected to the chair of mental and moral philosophy at the University of Virginia, a position he held till his death. His policies and ideas about education have changed the course of modern education and opened doors for a holistic method of learning.
Mr. Khan is a famous American educator and the founder of the Khan Academy which is an online education platform that is completely free. The platform provides thousands of lessons on a wide array of academic subjects and the YouTube channel of the Khan Academy attracts a lot of traffic with over five million subscribers. With a mission to offer free online education to students across the world, he has produced over 65,000 videos that deals with various subjects and concepts that have been watched over 1.7 billion times. He was one of the pioneering figures in the global free online education space and Khan Academy has helped students across the world to gain knowledge and hone their skills.
Mr. Khan was also listed in the Times 100 most influential people in the world in 2012 and was featured on the cover of Forbes Magazine in the same year. This former Hedge fund analyst quit his job in late 2009 and zeroed in on his vision of offering students of all ages across the globe an opportunity to accelerate their learning process. He is a prime example of being a pioneer and he has also authored a book titled “The One World Schoolhouse: Education Reimagined”. Khan is a firm believer in evolving with the changing times and introducing technology into education and supplementing traditional classrooms with technology-driven modern learning platforms.
This Kenyan educator, social activist and feminist have brought a new wave of resurgence in the Kenyan education strata. Kakenya is the Founder President of the Kenya Centre of Excellence which is basically a primary boarding school for girls. She had a rough beginning to her life and as per the Maasai tradition she was supposed to get engaged at five, undergo female genital mutation as a teenager and finally leave school and get married. She managed to pursue her dad to continue her education and this helped her to become one of the leading educators in the whole of Kenya. She did her undergraduate education from Randolph Macon Woman’s College and later went on to earn her Doctorate from the University of Pittsburgh in Education.
With the Kenya Centre of Excellence, Kakenya is planning to offer quality education for the girls from her community and let them have an opportunity to lead a successful life. In the first year itself, the boarding school enrolled 30 students and till now the institution is doing good and has been empowering the girls from the Maasai village with education. Kakenya has been the recipient of various awards for her contribution towards educating girls including the CNN Top Ten Hero of the Year award in 2013 and the Global Women’s Right’s Award also in 2013 from the famous Feminist Majority Foundation.
From being forced to drop out of high school to being included in the Top 10 of the Varkey Foundation Global Teacher Prize in the year of 2017, the life journey of Michael Wamaya has been nothing short of awe-inspiring. He began his teaching career as a dance instructor for Anno’s Africa which is a charity that offers arts education to orphans and vulnerable children in some of the most deprived areas in Africa. Michael started his work in Kibera, Nairobi which is a slum that shelters over 700,000 people, and under his mentorship, his students have gone on to become accomplished dancers. Apart from just offering ballet classes, Michael also works on improving his student’s social skills and this has helped him to create self-awareness among the community regarding the importance of education in general.
This has also helped to turn around the alarming drop out rates and the pregnancy rates among teenagers of the students, especially within the community. By allowing his students to discover and develop their talents, Michael is hoping to instil confidence and belief in them. With his dedication to allow his students to have opportunities to explore the world through education, Michael has been able to have a positive impact on the lives of his students.
Education has the power to reshape our world and like these above-mentioned personalities, many educators around the globe throughout history have played an integral role in our development. Like shining light to guide us through the darkness, countless teachers have helped us to get where we are today. The policies and ideologies introduced by these exemplary individuals have reshaped our history and they still continue to be an inspiration for many throughout the world.
