Ukrainian teachers Natalya Hladkykh and Oleksandr Zhuk are on the Global Teacher Prize 2020’s list of 50 finalists, making them among the best teachers in the world.

While their students are on home quarantine due to the novel coronavirus, Ukrainian teachers Natalya Hladkykh and Oleksandr Zhuk received recognition for their work in the classroom: The Global Teacher Prize 2020 included them in the list of its finalists, calling them the top 50 best teachers in the world.

“Over the last few weeks, in a world turned upside down, we’ve been daily reminded how much we rely on the world’s teachers. Now, more than ever, we must shine a light on their profession,” the Varkey Foundation that presents the prize said in a statement referring to the pandemic of COVID-19, a disease that made many countries around the world temporarily close schools.

For over 9 years, Kyiv teacher Hladkykh has worked in a special school with students who have disabilities, including children with developmental disorders and visual impairments. She now runs educational programs at the Seeing With Heart non-governmental organization, which teaches 35 teenagers with severe developmental disorders. She is also a psychologist there.

“The fact that two Ukrainian teachers are on this list with other world educators indicates that teachers in Ukraine are talented, proactive, innovative and creative,” Hladkykh told The Kyiv Post.

Zhuk has been working with children with hearing impairments at the Dzherelo boarding school in Zaporizhia since he was 19. He started as a social tutor. But then he decided to learn speech therapy for the deaf and now, at age 30, teaches computer science at the same school. He was the winner of The Kyiv Post’s Top 30 Under 30 Award in 2018.

“Having two of us on this list at the same time means that our education is developing, that we are improving as educators ourselves, trying to find something new and joining different initiatives,” Zhuk told The Kyiv Post.

The Global Teacher Prize is an annual award of $1 million given to an exceptional teacher who has made an outstanding contribution to the profession. In six years of the award, one other Ukrainian teacher had made it to the top 50 list: Hanna Dudich, a teacher of English in Kropyvnytskyi, in 2017.

The 50 finalists come from all over the world, nominated by the worldwide public. The shortlist of 10 finalists will be announced in the summer, and the winner will be announced on October 12.

The finalists and the winner are selected by the Global Teacher Prize Academy, made up of head-teachers, education experts, commentators, journalists, public officials, tech entrepreneurs, company directors and scientists from around the world.

The Global Teacher Prize has its national versions separate from the global award in many countries, including Ukraine. Hladkykh was nominated for the Global Teacher Prize Ukraine in 2017, and Zhuk won this national award in 2018.

The Varkey Foundation is a global charity focused on improving the standards of education for underprivileged children that was created by Indian businessman Sunny Varkey, founder and chairman of GEMS Education company. The foundation trains tens of thousands of teachers and principals in developing countries and has partnered with global organizations like UNICEF and UNESCO.