$1 million teacher prize goes to Sister Zeph. Her philosophy: 'Love is the language'
The Pakistani educator has won the largest annual prize for teachers from the Varkey Foundation. She says her teaching reflects her belief that "Love is the language that everybody can understand."
As a student growing up in Pakistan, Riffat Arif, now known to all as Sister Zeph, faced insults and bad treatment from her teachers at school. She dreamed of "a teacher who gives equal respect and love to children with no difference. I could not find that teacher, so I will be that teacher."
So, in 1997, at the age of just 13, she founded a school in the courtyard of her home, free to all. Children were to be treated with love and respect; beatings were not allowed.
And now, selected from over 7,000 nominations from 130 countries,
