Kenyan de-radicalisation tutor on $1m World's Best Teacher prize shortlist

A Kenyan teacher who gives classes against violent extremism is one of 10 finalists up for $1million prize for the world’s best teacher, the BBC reports.

Ayub Mohamud teaches business and Islamic studies in the Somali-dominated Eastleigh suburb of Nairobi a school identified as a recruiting ground for Islamist militants.

Often refered to as ‘Mogadishu Ndogo’, Swahili for Little Mogadishu, the estate is largely inhabited by ethnic Somalis – both Kenyan and foreign nationals.

And in a leaked report from 2013, Kenya’s National Intelligence Agency reportedly said that al-Shabab militants had been recruiting at Mr Mohamud’s school, Eastleigh High, the BBC further reports.

Mr. Mohamud told the BBC he was excited and humbled by his nomination by the Varkey Foundation, which works to improve the education of underprivileged children.

Kenya has been hit by several large-scale terror attacks in recent years.

In April last year, at least 148 people died when al-Shabab militants attacked Garissa University College, a Kenyan university near the border with Somalia where the al-Qaeda-linked group is based.

The group has also claimed responsibility on a string of sporadic explosions in the country, and the four-day siege in 2013 at the Westgate mall in Nairobi, in which 67 people were killed.