Artist Rouble Nagi won the $1 million Global Teacher Prize for educating a million children through 800+ slum learning centers and murals.
Rouble Nagi is a famous artist and educator from India. She was born in Jammu and Kashmir in 1980. She studied art at the Slade School in London. In 2026, she won the Global Teacher Prize worth $1 million. She received this for helping over one million children join schools. Her journey started when a young boy from a slum visited her art workshop. He could not afford to go to school. She visited his community and offered to paint the walls. This inspired her to take education directly to the poor.
What she does and why it is important for society
She runs the Rouble Nagi Art Foundation to help marginalized people. She creates “Living Walls of Learning” using murals. A mural is a large, interactive painting created directly on a wall. These murals show lessons like math, science, and hygiene. They turn dull streets into open air classrooms. This makes education fun and less scary for children. It also sparks curiosity in parents and the whole community. Her work is important because she has built over 800 learning centers. She also provides vocational training to help women find jobs. This helps families break the cycle of poverty.
How the prize money will be spent
Rouble Nagi will use the $1 million prize for community development. She dedicated the honor to the children of India. She plans to build a new Skilling Institute. This center will provide free vocational and digital training to young people. She also wants to open more learning centers in Jammu and Kashmir where she grew up. The money will help her reach millions more marginalized children. She believes education should be a right for everyone, not a privilege for a few. She will continue to turn neglected walls into hope for the next generation.
“Give me an educated mother, and I will give you an educated nation.” Napoleon Bonaparte once said this. Education is the backbone of any country. We all believe education is a basic right. Political parties always promise free schools. However, the current system is very fragile. Education cannot be the top priority when a child is hungry. A child cannot focus on a classroom if they do not have food for tomorrow.
Many people say parents are responsible. But the system itself is broken. High unemployment and poor family planning are major failures. Even if you pay for a child’s school, they still need to eat every day. This is a huge issue. Experts like Rouble Nagi see this struggle in Indian slums. She knows it is hard to convince families to choose school over “immediate survival needs”.
Her work proves that education needs more than just books. She repairs broken homes because children need a safe place to live first. Her foundation even provides food and support to gain the community’s trust. This shows that the government must take responsibility for basic needs. Education can only thrive when hunger is gone.
We must fix the system so no child has to choose between a meal and a book!
– Opinion | Daily ScrollDown