Education innovation gets a Nobel of its own in the Yidan Prize
Bernard Chan says the winners of the Yidan Prize – one of many generous initiatives by mainland business leaders – have ideas that can change education for the better in the world, including Hong Kong. These ideas deserve a bigger platform
I attended the inaugural awards ceremony here in Hong Kong earlier this month. Among the speakers were Cherie Blair, founder of the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women, who made some powerful points about the importance of educating girls.
The prize is a big step towards giving education innovators the type of status they deserve. Not only that, the event also opened my eyes to the growing role that mainland Chinese business figures now play in philanthropy and global social development.
Mainland tycoons are also becoming increasingly involved in charitable activities overseas. These tycoons for the most part have humble origins, and some went through real hardship early in life. They have seen their businesses expand at home and, increasingly, overseas. Successful entrepreneurs with a global outlook, they seem to genuinely want engagement with and to contribute to the wider world.
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As for Chen, he has endowed his Yidan Prize with HK$2.5 billion. International judges and advisers will select two laureates (individuals or small teams) per year. These winners will share HK$60 million a year in prizes, half in cash and half for research funds.
Surely education is at least as important as, for example, genetics or astronomy
The first two laureates were psychologist Carol Dweck of the US, for work on students’ motivational mindsets, and Vicky Colbert of Colombia, founder of the Escuela Nueva (“New School”) movement of innovative primary schools in Latin America. By highlighting achievements by relatively unknown figures, the awards remind us how we usually overlook education as a key to the well-being of humanity.
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However, Hong Kong lags in curriculum and assessment methods. This will not surprise anyone who has followed the ups and downs of education reform over the years.
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The Yidan Prize is a major addition to initiatives like the WISE Prize for Education launched in 2011, and the Global Teacher Prize launched in 2014. Hopefully, it will build on their work in giving advances in education worldwide recognition and a “Nobel” status.
Bernard Chan is convenor of Hong Kong’s Executive Council
