Surrey educator named top 10 finalist for $1M global teacher prize

L.A. Matheson high school’s Annie Ohana is known in the Surrey school community for her work creating inclusive classrooms and anti-oppression curriculum in Surrey. Now, after 12 years of teaching, she’s a finalist for the $1,000,000 Global Teacher Prize — chosen from more than 7,000 teachers nominated around the world.

“I think the focus of my work is very simple, intersectional empowerment for all. And that we can do that in a variety of ways, and everybody together,” said Ohana, the Indigenous department head for L.A. Matheson Secondary School.

Ohana says she’s still having trouble believing that she’s made it this far in the selection process.

“As much as I knew the process was happening, I was so overwhelmed by top 50, and so to be top 10, its just an opportunity. It’s an opportunity to have teachers celebrated as they should be,” she said. “I feel like I’m representing my entire profession as I go into the top 10.”

The Varkey Foundation’s Global Teacher Prize goes to a teacher who has made an outstanding contribution to their profession. Ohana was nominated by a fellow activist and educator.

Jagbir ‘JB’ Mahli, director of instruction and racial equity for the Surrey School District, says Ohana has been doing anti-opression, anti-racism work for such a long time.

“I think it really shows, it’s a testament to her, the commitment that she has towards those ideals of anti-oppression and and anti-racism,” he said. “She lives it, she works it, and she’s a tremendous role model for so many of our teachers and youth.”

In Ohana’s classroom, she says the posters and statements that appear like a collage on the walls are part of the curriculum for her senior students. In particular, Ohana points to a poster that says “They wanted to bury us, but they did not know we were seeds,” as a powerful lesson for her students.

“That lies at the crux of my curriculum, in the sense that, we are going to talk about some pretty harsh things sometimes, we don’t want to revictimize, we don’t want to make more victims,” she said.

“At the same time, we have to realize how strong we are. And that usually, people are dehumanized. We should never be dehumanized. Instead, we take that oppression that we have faced, and we use it to grow ever stronger.”

Actor Stephen Fry announced Ohana’s nomination when she made it into the top 10, which she says was a welcome surprise.

“That was completely unexpected,” she said. “I’m not usually that fangirling about celebrities, but I’m glad that it was him, and someone that I think understands the value of education, and again, how to promote those anti-oppression values in everything we do.”

Ohana is headed to the Global Teacher Prize ceremony at UNESCO’s General Conference in Paris on Nov. 8.