An Indigenous teacher from the Mexican state of Sinaloa has been nominated for one of the world’s most prestigious education awards.
Nelsy Saray Valenzuela Flores, who teaches at two schools near Los Mochis, is one of 50 finalists for the 2026 GEMS Education Global Teacher Prize, a US $1-million award created by the Varkey Foundation with UNESCO support.
The prize, awarded annually since 2015, has never had a winner from Mexico.
¡Orgullo sinaloense! La maestra👩🏻🏫 indígena Nelsy Valenzuela👩🏻 es finalista del Global Teacher Prize 2025📆
En el mes de enero🗓️ se nombrarán a los 10 finalistas quienes tendrán la oportunidad de ✈️viajar a Dubai para el nombramiento del único ganador pic.twitter.com/OFnZGeTrU2
— Línea Directa Portal (@linea_directa) December 16, 2025
Valenzuela Flores works with Yoreme communities facing low educational attainment and multiple forms of deprivation.
The Yoreme, also widely known as the Mayo, are an Indigenous people living mainly in northern Sinaloa and southern Sonora.
She teaches at the Renaissance State Secondary School and the Paulino Indigenous Primary School, where her methods have shone a spotlight on classroom innovation rooted in culture and community.
Valenzuela Flores told the newspaper Milenio she builds her lessons from students’ lived realities and cultural knowledge — blending the national curriculum with a strong focus on Yoreme identity and language.
“I try to address these contents taking into account what the students know, are familiar with and their interests … starting from reality to transform it into something a little better,” she said.
Moreover, her methods spill into broader community projects.
At her secondary school, the initiative “The Renaissance of My Community” brought teachers from several disciplines together to promote community tourism, environmental stewardship and recycling in a nearby fishing village.
She has also helped lead Ínapo Yoreme, the first Indigenous digital community radio station in northern Sinaloa, giving artisans, traditional authorities and youth a platform in the Yoremnokki language.
Valenzuela Flores, who has nearly 15 years of classroom experience, is the only Mexican among 10 Latin American educators on the global shortlist. Others are from Guatemala, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Peru, Uruguay and Chile.
Last year’s winner was Mansour Al Mansour, a teacher from Saudi Arabia.
The $1-million prize is not a no-strings-attached personal payment; rather, it’s meant to support educational works and projects, and it’s paid out and monitored over 10 years.
The top 50 will be narrowed to a top 10, with the overall winner to be announced during the World Governments Summit in Dubai, Feb. 3-5, 2026.
Originally Global Education Management Systems, GEMS Education is a for-profit education company that runs one of the world’s largest networks of K-12 schools across the Middle East, North Africa, Asia, Europe and North America. It was founded in Dubai in 1959.
In a Facebook post, Mexico’s Ministry of Public Education and Culture (SEPyC) congratulated Valenzuela Flores, adding that her nomination is “a testament to her extraordinary work” and that she “reaffirms the leadership of Indigenous women who defend their territory, their culture and their language.”
With reports from Milenio and PR Newswire
