Eight teachers honoured as Africa sets out to transform the profession
The African Union's continental teachers' awards closed a three-day conference in Eswatini that adopted the Eswatini Declaration. Zimbabwe has offered to host next year.
Ezulwini — Eight classroom teachers from across the continent were honoured at the African Union Continental Teachers' Awards 2026, which closed the Pan-African Conference on Teacher Education (PACTED 2026) in Ezulwini, Eswatini, the African Union said.
The award winners
- Abed-Nego Layapula Nepolo, Namibia
- Tafita Zafy Charlin Romuald, Madagascar
- Ntombifuthi Esther Gumede, South Africa
- Linda Owusu Korkoh, Ghana
- Francis Taiwo Solanke, Nigeria
- Josiane Nnanga, Cameroon
- Ariba Messaoud, Morocco
- Wissam Badri, Algeria
Teachers working in rural, underserved, refugee-hosting and emergency-affected communities also received special recognition.
What the conference agreed
The three-day meeting, held from 5 to 7 October at the Pallazzo International Conference Centre and opened on World Teachers' Day, brought together education ministers, teacher bodies and unions, researchers and partners. It discussed recruiting and keeping teachers, professional standards, the mutual recognition of qualifications so teachers can work across borders, financing, teacher well-being, and the responsible use of artificial intelligence. It produced the Eswatini Declaration and pushed forward a Continental Teacher Qualifications Framework.
The AU's education commissioner, Professor Gaspard Banyankimbona, said teachers should be recognised not merely as implementers of policy but as professionals and nation-builders, and that AI must strengthen rather than replace them. Eswatini's education minister, Owen Nxumalo, said the outcomes would raise the status and professional development of teachers. Zimbabwe's minister of primary and secondary education, Torerayi Moyo, offered to host PACTED 2027.
Source: African Union Commission, 13 October 2026.
