A teacher in the West Bank of Palestine, Hanan strives to promote peace in the classroom with her simple motto of “No to Violence,” while at the same time making sure to attend to each of her students’ individual needs.

Her goal is to lend a helping hand to children who have been exposed to any kind of violence and need some special care in their first years at school.

For her outstanding efforts Hanan was recently awarded the 2016 Global Teacher Prize, an honour which was announced by the Pope himself.

Having grown up in a Palestinian refugee camp, this dedicated teacher has a firsthand understanding of the impacts that violence can have on children, watching as exposure to bloodshed transforms behavior and personalities.

Drawing on this experience, Hanan has developed a teaching model that focuses on communicating the importance of both peace and compassion.

Using a combination of games and activities, she initiates conversations that touch upon morality and ethics in a way that her children can learn from. She works to involve the children in the community, breaking the chain of violence by encouraging her students to be good citizens that are positively engaged in the world.

In a public statement, Hanan explains her viewpoint: "We need to help children with questioning, dialogue, thinking, and feeling to help them express themselves. We as teachers can build the values and morals of young minds to ensure a fair world, a more beautiful world, and a more free world. Every day, our role in life, as teachers, gets more and more important. If the world asks what the future of our children will look like, we should ask ourselves what type of educated children we will be raising."

- My Modern Met