Schools in the country have been advised to apply for the $250,000 World’s Best School Prizes 2023, as applications open. It will close on March 15, 2023.

The World’s Best School Prizes, founded by T4 Education in collaboration with Accenture, American Express, Yayasan Hasanah, Templeton World Charity Foundation and the Lemann Foundation, are prestigious education prizes.

The five prizes, which include Community Collaboration, Environmental Action, Innovation, Overcoming Adversity and Supporting Healthy Lives, celebrate schools everywhere for the pivotal role they play in developing the next generation of learners and their contributions to society’s progress, especially in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic.

The prizes were founded as a grassroots solution to build the systemic change needed. They give inspirational schools a global platform, allowing them to share their best practices and help others replicate innovative ideas.

Recall that a Nigerian school, Best Intellectuals Model School, in the inaugural edition, made the Top 10 shortlist for the World’s Best School Prize for Overcoming Adversity in 2022.

Founder of T4 Education and World’s Best School Prizes, Vikas Pota, said:
“Every child left behind in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic is a child too many. Governments must take urgent action to tackle the global education crisis and ensure quality education is a right, not a luxury. The best place to start is by working with schools at the coalface to understand what works.

“We introduced the prizes to create the conversations that lead to lasting change. Conversations between educators learning from one another’s vital solutions, and conversations in the halls and corridors of power, where leaders must sit up and listen to those on the frontlines.”

A Top 10 shortlist for each prize will be announced in June 2023, followed by the Top three finalists for each prize in September next year. The winner of each prize will be chosen based on rigorous criteria by a Judging Academy, comprising distinguished leaders across the globe.

Winners will be announced in October 2023 and a prize of $250,000 will be shared equally among winners of the five prizes.

The shortlisted schools will share their best practices through virtual seminars and showcase their “secret sauce” through school transformation toolkits with step-by-step instructions on how others can replicate innovative approaches to improve education.

The prizes are open to all schools that teach students in the compulsory schooling and are legally registered, including early childhood centres, kindergarten, primary, secondary and online schools.