Teacher from Bihać among top 50 in the world: Maja Džafić nominated for Global Teacher Prize

(Patria) - Among the 50 best teachers in the world, according to the selection of the Varkey Foundation, is the name of a teacher from Bihać – Maja Džafić, who has been dedicatedly and lovingly doing her job for 30 years.

Maja Džafić became the first woman from Bosnia and Herzegovina nominated for the prestigious Global Teacher Prize award. This recognition is yet another proof of her long-standing dedicated work in education.

“I am the second teacher in BiH to succeed in this, and the first woman. This is very important because we live in a country where education is somewhat degraded, and educators are not really appreciated. I hope that I am an incentive and motivation for many that, despite countless problems, from financial to all others, one should do their job with heart and that it will then lead to success,” says Džafić for FTV.

At the beginning of the year, Maja Džafić also became the winner of the award for the most innovative teacher in Bosnia and Herzegovina, awarded by the Center for Educational Initiatives "Step by Step". She was declared the best in the category of subject teaching.

“That opened the door a little for me to apply for the Global Teacher Prize and to achieve what has happened. Besides that, I gladly participate with my students in various competitions and projects; we have won awards at the federal competition on cultural heritage three times in a row, we also raised our voice against violence against women and were successful there at the competition of the Institute for Youth Development, my students are ambassadors of women's rights in BiH, we are ambassadors of the Night of Museums.”

The principal of the Elementary School Gornje Prekounje–Ripač, Mirza Sagrković, emphasizes that he and his colleagues are extremely proud of Maja Džafić's success. He notes that it is a great privilege that, among the modern countries of the world, Bosnia and Herzegovina is also represented in such a competition: “It has been shown that someone from BiH can succeed, make a certain step forward, be in the top 50 in the world. We are always there for each other, we support each other, whatever project is underway, if any teacher comes with an idea to do something, we support it.”

Teacher Džafić states that the selection of the ten best teachers follows, and then the winner, but emphasizes that she does not think too much about further placement. She is satisfied with just entering the top 50, stressing that the working conditions and the education system in our country are not such as to facilitate such a big step forward. However, as she says, the love for the job she does was and remains her greatest motivation and path to these successes.