A Ghanaian teacher from Mangoase Senior High School has won the Sub-Saharan Africa regional prize at the 2026 Cambridge Dedicated Teacher Awards, marking Ghana’s second consecutive regional win in the global competition.
Abigail Agyeiwaa was selected by judges from more than 1,500 Sub-Saharan African nominees for her work improving education and wellbeing among young people in rural communities. Her victory follows that of fellow Ghanaian Portia Dzilah, who won the overall global award in 2025, making Ghana the only country to hold back-to-back regional titles in the competition’s recent history.
“I believe that quality education is a fundamental human right, not a privilege,” Agyeiwaa said.
She began her teaching career in 2014 at a small school in Adawso, where her focus quickly turned to narrowing the gap between rural and urban learning opportunities. That commitment led her to found KAGAS Foundation Ghana, through which she has delivered sustained programmes in education, health, and gender empowerment across more than 20 rural communities in the Akuapem North Municipality.
As regional winner, Agyeiwaa receives £500 worth of books for her class, a trophy, and recognition inside a range of new Cambridge textbooks to be published in November 2026. She joins eight other regional finalists competing for the overall global prize.
Rod Smith, Group Managing Director of International Education at Cambridge University Press & Assessment, said Agyeiwaa’s reach beyond the classroom shows how education can be a force for social change, describing her commitment as exactly what the award exists to recognise.
The 2026 competition received over 12,000 nominations from teachers across 126 countries. Public voting for the global winner is open at dedicatedteacher.cambridge.org/vote and closes at 08:00 Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) on May 13, 2026. The overall winner will be announced on June 2, 2026.
