Rashed Hashem

Rashed works in a school located in a remote area of the UAE, around 40km away from the capital and close to a nomadic tribal environment. The educated percentage of the population is low, in some cases, customs and traditions are a stumbling block to pupils’ integration with the community and there is a lack of awareness of how to deal with pupils properly.

When Rashed was young, the use of physical violence as punishment was common, and he dreamed that someday he would be a teacher with a more patient approach to learners. He decided to pursue his hopes of studying and got the first doctorate in his particular field in the UAE.

Since then Rashed has made contributions to the teaching profession by equipping non-traditional learning environments to improve students' learning levels through mobility. Rashed has used his experience in sports for people with disabilities to create innovative physical applications for students’ use. He established the first laboratory of hyperactivity, followed by the Smart Carpet laboratory, which promotes learning by motion through an interactive digital application. He considers his most important achievement to be the establishment of nine innovative non-traditional educational laboratories at the Zayed Center for the Mind Creation, the first educational centre of its kind in the Middle East. His methods have had a significant impact on improving student learning in the areas of renewable energy, indoor gardens and health nutrition, and these innovations contributed to an improvement in his school's assessment from 15% to 67% in 2018.

They have also led to other school achievements. In support of the Emirates Strategy for Youth Empowerment, 90 students and teachers from the school participated in an annual tournament at which they won 10 medals. Rashed himself has contributed many international conference papers to the understanding of teaching using tech with sports. He is the first Emirati teacher to deliver 18 scientific papers to international conferences, and the first Emirati teacher appointed as a Goodwill Ambassador by the United Nations. He won the Mohammed bin Zayed Award for Best Gulf Teacher in 2018 and also received the title of a UAE pioneer for being the first Emirati to receive a masters and PhD in Special Needs & Sport in 2015 from His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.

If awarded the Global Teacher Prize, Rashed would create a charitable scientific centre to help use sports to aid the development of individuals with special needs, headquartered in Dubai with branches in some developing economies.