What if a broken wall in a poor neighbourhood could become a classroom? Educator and artist Rouble Nagi believed it could, and she has spent two decades proving it. In February 2026, she won the Global Teacher Prize, a $1 million award, at the World Governments Summit in Dubai. According to the prize’s official page, she has set up more than 800 learning centres across India, where children who have never attended school can start learning.
Here is how her work reaches the children who need it most.
A Slum Workshop and a Boy Who Did Not Know What a Pencil Was
ETV Bharat reports that Rouble was 19 when she walked into a slum settlement to run an art workshop for children. While playing with them, she handed a pencil to a young boy, and he looked at it blankly. He had never seen one before. The boy was old enough to be in school. According to ETV Bharat, that was the day she decided to act.
Living Walls of Learning: How Abandoned Walls Became Open-Air Classrooms
Rouble’s best-known idea is called “Living Walls of Learning”. She takes abandoned and broken walls and turns them into large murals that teach literacy, numeracy, science, hygiene, history, environmental awareness and social responsibility.
The Global Teacher Prize page stresses that these murals are not just decoration. They work as open-air classrooms that draw children in and turn the whole neighbourhood into a partner in education.
Learning Centres for Children Who Have Never Been to School
Through her Rouble Nagi Art Foundation, Rouble has opened more than 800 learning centres in over 100 low-income communities and villages. Both the prize page and All India Radio’s news on air describe them as safe, inspiring spaces.
The centres help in several ways:
- Children who have never attended school can begin structured learning.
- They are guided back into mainstream education.
- Children already in school receive remedial support.
- Students also get emotional support and creative activities.
Newsonair reports that her work has helped bring more than one million children into formal education through art.
Teaching Around Real Life: Flexible Schedules and Hands-On Lessons for Working Children
Many of her classrooms run in tough conditions. The prize page lists poverty, child labour, early marriage, irregular attendance and a lack of basic infrastructure. Rouble designs lessons around these realities instead of treating them as barriers.
The centres offer flexible schedules for working children, hands-on learning with recycled materials, and practical skills that show families an immediate benefit. Both sources report that her programmes have cut school dropout rates by more than 50 per cent and improved long-term retention.
How Rouble Nagi Brings Parents and Neighbourhoods Into the Classroom
Her approach does not stop with the child. The prize page says her murals engage parents, and her lessons are built to show families a clear benefit. Sunny Varkey, founder of the Global Teacher Prize, said her work has strengthened families and communities, not only changed individual lives.
Training More Than 600 Teachers and Volunteers So the Model Can Grow
Rouble travels widely across India, working directly with children and mentoring the teachers who lead the centres. According to the prize page, she has recruited and trained more than 600 volunteer and paid educators. This creates a model that can grow to more places.
From 5,000 Nominations to the Global Teacher Prize 2026
Rouble was chosen from over 5,000 nominations and applications from 139 countries. The prize, now in its tenth year, is presented by GEMS Education and organised by the Varkey Foundation with UNESCO. Newsonair says the Crown Prince of Dubai, Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, handed over the award.
She plans to use the prize money to build a Skilling Institute that offers free vocational and digital literacy training to young people from marginalised backgrounds. Alongside teaching, she is an internationally recognised artist who has created more than 850 murals and sculptures, says the prize page.
The Wise Take
Rouble Nagi did not wait for children to reach a classroom. She took the classroom to them, starting with a wall. Her results offer a simple lesson for parents, teachers and communities. First, bring the whole neighbourhood in. Her murals engage parents and turn communities into partners in education. Second, share the work. By training more than 600 volunteer and paid educators, she built a model that can grow to more places. When learning fits real life, more children stay in school.
Also read our story on Government Schools Lost 86 Lakh Students in Two Years. They Gained Five Lakh Teachers in the Same Period
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