By Adama Kone, Teacher Project Manager

Each year Mali Rising honors three of our most outstanding teachers with an award. They are nominated by their principals, and a panel of teachers selects the best candidates for each award — most outstanding, most helpful, and most improved.

Last month I was happy to deliver the award for Most Outstanding Teacher to a a very hard-working teacher, Mr. Chaka Diarra. I asked him to share a little bit about his work and challenges. Please read on to hear his thoughts:

“My name is Chaka Diarra, an English teacher at Lareen Mellor Middle School Middle School. I have been a teacher for about sixteen years but I came to Lareen Mellor Middle School Middle School just three years ago.

I enjoy doing my job so much because of the children here are good and my co-workers are too. Lareen Mellor Middle School is also in a big town, which makes the access much easier than where I taught before because that was a smaller village where parents did not like to send their children to school as much as the parents here. I live here with my family — my wife and six kids — and we like the people here better because they seem friendlier and like school more.

My biggest challenge at Lareen Mellor Middle School Middle school is the incredible increasing number of students every year. I have too many students in each grade here, which makes my job so difficult especially when it comes to keeping my classrooms quiet while I am teaching. For example in my 9th grade, I have more than 100 students and I have hard time making sure everyone focuses while I am teaching my lessons!

I feel very honored today by receiving this award from Mali Rising Foundation after I was proposed by my principal for the Mali Rising Foundation 2022-2023 teacher awards! I feel that my efforts have been rewarded today and this really gives me more motivation for my job. I think it will surely inspire my colleagues too.

I would like to thank Mali Rising Foundation for honoring me with this award.”