One school from Colombia and two from Brazil were selected among 15 finalists for the World’s Best School Prize 2023, an award that awards the world’s best educational institutions with $50,000 in five categories: community collaboration, environmental action, innovation, Overcoming adversity, and promoting healthy living.
The three schools reached the final phase after passing the exam Pre-selection of 50 schools in June when they also attended two schools from Argentina including five from Brazil, two from Colombia, one from Chile, Ecuador, Guatemala, and one from Uruguay.
The finalist school in Colombia is the Municipal Montessori educational institution Headquarters in San Francisco, State primary and secondary education The company, based in Pitalito, Huila, is fighting “a triumphant battle against the devastating effects of coffee cultivation in the region” and was selected in the “Environmental Protection” category, explained the prize’s organizers, T4 Education.
Huila is the leading department in coffee production in Colombia and faces an environmental challenge due to the volume of coffee Waste generated during coffee production. Through your program Cafelab Colombiathe school “has shown that it can reduce pollution, promote entrepreneurship and contribute to a healthier environment,” they emphasized.
For your part, one of the finalist schools of Brazil is the Urban Schools Professor Edson PisaniCommunity with an elementary and elementary school in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, which “has emerged as a symbol of transformation for the lives of its students, their families and the entire community of Aglomerado da Serra, one of the largest favelas in Brazil”, and became selected in the category “Community Collaboration ”they added.
For more than 100 years, residents of Aglomerado da Serra had no access to basic rights such as drinking water, sanitation, and transportation, they said.Withh his ability to mobilize students, families,s and neighbors and coordinate with government and local leaders, The school became a spokesperson for its community, promoting improvements and sustainable living practices.
The other finalist is the Brazilian institution EEMTI Joaquim Bastos GoncalvesState secondary school in Carnaubal, Ceará, which “managed to reverse a process of decline in the mental health of its students triggered by the pandemic and reintegrate them into the community” and was selected in the category “Promoting a healthy life” they will need it.
This school developed the project “Adopt a Student” to identify at-risk students, provide them with support from professional psychologists, and educate the school community about the importance of mental health.
Given the shortage of psychologists in Carnaubal, the project aimed to find psychologists from all over the country to mentor students online, they explained.
“Those who received support improved their self-esteem and overall well-being, which led to better academic performance and a sense of hope.”
The awards were created to “share the best practices of schools that are transforming the lives of their students and having a positive impact on their communities,” they noted.
In the “Community Collaboration” category, in addition to the school in Brazil, a South African school and another North American school were selected. In addition to the Colombian school, “Environmental Action” also selected a school from the Arab Emirates and another from the Philippines.
In “Innovation” there was a New Zealand school, one from Malaysia, and one from India.
Blythe category “Overcoming Adversity” Schools from the United Kingdom, India, , and Israel were selected.
Finally in the category “Promoting a healthy life ”In addition to the Brazilian school, there was one from the United Kingdom and one from the United States.
The winners will be announced in November. The five winning institutions will receive $250,000, distributed equally, each receiving $50,000. They are selected by a jury made up of educational leaders and experts from around the world.In addition, this year as part of the awards they launched the Community Choice Award (Community Choice Award), which will be awarded from this Tuesday to September 26th to the school that receives the most votes among the 15 finalists in the public vote.
The winning school of the public vote will receive free membership in the Best School to Work program, a school certification mechanism; and will be announced along with the other five winners.
The awards were launched last year by T4 Education in collaboration with Accenture, American Express, Yayasan Hasanah, and the Lemann Foundation.
