Mohamed Mohtady

Mohamed chose to be a teacher because education is more than just a job for him – his love of teaching defines his whole life. Currently, he teaches boys from the sixth grade to the twelfth at a school in a remote area of Fujairah, UAE, where there are many obstacles to effective learning.

To tackle these obstacles, Mohamed aims to treat each student as unique and respond to their individual learning style. Therapeutic teaching is given to students with anxiety, and established strategies are used with students who have an attention deficit or lack of focus. With students that are visually impaired, Mohamed pursues a mixture of individual learning, sound recording, and converting visual lessons to audiobooks using iPads and tablets.

A core part of Mohamed’s teaching practice is sharing knowledge among the teaching profession. He is a member of the UAE teacher training team for ordinary and special education – helping achieve the government’s vision of improving education by applying modern learning strategies – and has contributed to creative sessions at the UAE Ministry of Health and Education to generate innovative ideas. Mohamed has organised student participation at events like the Khorfakkan International Championship for the Disabled, as well as programmes for the cleaning and protection of beaches and nature reserves. A number of his students have also won prizes at national mathematics and school Olympics competitions.

As a result, Mohamed’s contribution has been recognised with many awards, including the Distinguished Teacher Award for the Fujairah Region (2011), the UAE Ideas Award for Best Creative Thinking (2014), the Best Special Education Teacher Award for Fujairah Region/State Level (2014-2015), the Khalifa Award for Educational Innovation (2015-2016), and the UAE National Award for Community Footprint (2016-2017). He is also honoured to chair the Special Education Committee of the Teachers’ Council at the UAE Ministry of Education.

If he wins the Global Teacher Prize, Mohamed would create a school to serve students with special needs and allow them to practice the activities they love. This will be a school where the talents of people with special needs are harnessed fully. Mohamed would also try to support a Special Olympics School for students with special needs in both private and public education.