Among the world’s 50 best teachers, according to the selection by the Varkey Foundation, is also the name of a teacher from Bihac,Maja Dzafic, who has been doing her job devotedly and with love for 30 years.
Maja Dzafic has become the first woman from Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) to be nominated for the prestigious Global Teacher Prize. This recognition is yet another proof of her many years of dedicated work in education.
“I am the second teacher in BiH to have achieved this, and the first woman. This is very important because we live in a country where education has somehow been degraded, and education workers are not particularly valued. I hope that I am an encouragement and motivation to many that, despite countless problems, from financial ones to all others, one should do their job with heart, and that this will then result in success.”
At the beginning of the year, Maja Dzafic also became the recipient of the award for the most innovative teacher in BiH, awarded by the Center for Educational Initiatives “Step by Step.” She was proclaimed the best in the subject teaching category.
“That opened the door for me a little to apply for the Global Teacher Prize and to reach what has now happened. In addition, together with my students I gladly respond to various competitions and projects; three times in a row we won awards at the federal competition on cultural heritage, we also raised our voices against violence against women and were successful there as well at a competition of the Institute for Youth Development, my students are ambassadors of women’s rights in BiH, and we are ambassadors of the Night of Museums.”
The principal of the Gornje Prekounje–Ripac Primary School, Mirza Sagrkovic, points out that he and his colleagues are extremely proud of Maja Dzafic’s success. He emphasizes that it is a great privilege that, among contemporary countries of the world, BiH is also represented at such a competition: “It has been shown that someone from BiH can succeed, make a certain breakthrough, be in the top 50 in the world. We are always there for one another, we support each other; whatever project is underway, if any teacher comes with an idea to do something, we support it.”
Teacher Dzafic states that the selection of the ten best teachers, and then the winner, follows, but emphasizes that she does not think too much about further placement. She is satisfied even with entering the top 50, stressing that working conditions and the education system in our country are not such as to facilitate such a major breakthrough. Nevertheless, as she says, love for the job she does has been and remains her greatest motivation and the path to these achievements.
