Samuel Isaiah, teacher extraordinaire

2020 Global Teacher Prize finalist Samuel Isaiah, 33, with his students at the Orang Asli settlement school, SK Runchang, in Pekan, Pahang. Photo: Bernama

Samuel Isaiah’s nomination as one of the top 10 finalists for the 2020 Global Teacher Prize had my phone ringing over the past few days. I have been receiving calls and What App messages asking me whether it was me.

The reason being, I was a teacher too and more so because we share a second name that sounds similar and which is quite uncommon. His second name is Isaiah while mine is Yesuiah. Both are biblical names, though.