An Indian educator transforms neglected walls into vibrant interactive murals that teach everything from literacy, to hygiene and environmental awareness. She has won the prestigious $1 million Global Teacher Prize for bringing education to the most marginalized communities. Rouble Nagi from Mumbai was announced as the 2026 winner at the World Governments Summit in Dubai where she was presented with the award recognizing her revolutionary approach to making learning accessible through art. Over the past two decades she has established more than 800 learning centers across over 100 underserved communities, creating safe inspiring spaces where children who have never attended school can begin structured learning and be guided into mainstream education.
Central to her work is the innovative concept of Living Walls of Learning where she transforms abandoned walls into open air classrooms that draw children into learning engage parents and turn entire neighborhoods into partners in education. She travels extensively across India working directly with children and mentoring teachers having recruited and trained more than 600 educators creating a scalable model that meets children academically socially and economically. Her programs have reduced school dropout rates by more than 50% while helping bring more than one million children into formal education through the power of art.
Sunny Varkey founder of the Global Teacher Prize said Rouble represents the very best of what teaching can be with courage creativity compassion and unwavering belief in every child’s potential. Rouble plans to use the prize money to establish a Skilling Institute offering free vocational and digital literacy training to transform life opportunities for millions more marginalized children while continuing her work as an internationally recognized artist who has created more than 850 murals and exhibited in over 200 shows worldwide.
Source: https://apnews.com/article/global-teacher-prize-rouble-nagi-54a0fbd628ab062aba569457ff01d21d
