According to Lawrence Tabichi, father to the 36 year old who bagged the 2019 Global Teacher Prize that brought with it $1 million (Ksh.100 million) in winnings,Peter started showing his talents even at the early age of 7, adding that he at one point thought his son would become an electrician given his teenage tendency of fixing malfunctioned electronics.
Wearing the plain, floor-length brown robe of a Franciscan brother, Kenyan science teacher Peter Mokaya Tabichi could barely contain his joy upon being named winner of the annual Global Teacher Prize of one million dollars for his work in a rural school with disadvantaged children.
Mr Tabichi received an award of $1 million (Sh100.8 million), which he says he will use to develop his school and the community.
He received the award at a lavish ceremony in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. “I feel great. I can’t believe it,” the village teacher said as he mounted the podium. He had been chosen from among 10,000 nominations from 179 countries.
The educator, however, on Wednesday evening came out to explain how he will spend the Ksh.100 million prize money.
“There are several projects that I wish to undertake. I will ensure the school has access to clean water and build a well-equipped computer laboratory,” he said.
By making students believe in themselves, enrollment has doubled to 400 over three years, and cases of misbehavior have fallen from 30 per week to just three.
Mr. Tabichi revealed that most of the money will go towards donations to the education sector.
According to the Keriko Mixed Day Secondary School teacher, his students as well as his community and his fellow teaching fraternity deserve the win as much as he does.
“So are you going to donate more of the money?” Posed Jeff Koinange, to which he responded saying: “Yes. Because they (students, teachers and community) are the ones who have won, they’re the ones who will deserve it.”
Mr. Tabichi stated that he was inspired to submit an application for the award by the late environmental conservationist and Nobel Peace laureate Wangari Maathai who won a lot of global recognition during his heydays and continues to do so even in death.
While submitting his application, however, Tabichi said “at the back of my mind, money was not what was there. I knew that I’ll just participate and experience and explore.”
The Physics and Mathematics teacher credited his recent achievement to his father – Lawrence Tabichi – who was also a teacher and whom he termed as a strict man who remains strong even in old age.
“He was energetic, and even now he is still energetic,” said Tabichi of his 67-year-old father.
The senior Tabichi, also speaking during the interview, commended his son for achieving what even he initially thought was impossible since – out of the ten finalists — he was the only African teacher.