Indian educator and activist Rouble Nagi, winner of the GEMS Education Global Teacher Prize 2026, was formally honoured at Buckingham Palace during a prestigious garden party held to mark the 50th anniversary of the King’s Trust, the international charity founded by King Charles III to advance education programmes that equip young people with essential skills for a better future.
During the event, Rouble Nagi met King Charles III at Buckingham Palace, marking a significant moment in recognition of her contributions to education and community transformation. She attended the ceremony alongside education leader and philanthropist Sunny Varkey, Founder of the Varkey Foundation, the Global Teacher Prize, and GEMS Education.
Over the past two decades, Rouble Nagi has established more than 800 learning centres across over 100 marginalised communities in India. Her work has transformed abandoned walls into interactive murals, reaching and integrating more than one million children into formal education systems.
Her innovative model, known as “Living Walls of Learning,” converts neglected public spaces into open-air classrooms. These murals function as educational tools covering literacy, numeracy, science, hygiene, history, environmental awareness, and social responsibility, while actively engaging children, parents, and entire communities in the learning process.
Rouble Nagi has also worked extensively across India, directly engaging with children at learning centres and mentoring educators responsible for delivery at the grassroots level. She has recruited and trained more than 600 volunteer and paid teachers, developing a scalable education model designed to reach children where traditional systems often fail due to socio-economic barriers.
Her programmes operate in environments shaped by poverty, child labour, early marriage, irregular attendance, and limited infrastructure. Instead of treating these challenges as barriers, her approach integrates education with real-life conditions through flexible learning schedules, practical skill development, and the use of recycled materials. These interventions have contributed to a reduction in dropout rates by more than 50 percent and have significantly improved long-term school retention.
The event also highlighted the broader impact of initiatives led by Sunny Varkey and the Varkey Foundation, whose Global Teacher Prize, Global Schools Prize, and Global Student Prize collectively form a global framework recognising educators, learners, and institutions as drivers of educational transformation.
The Buckingham Palace engagement underscored the growing international recognition of grassroots educational innovation and reinforced the role of teachers in shaping inclusive and future-ready learning systems across communities.
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