Draft:Samuel Isaiah

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Samuel Isaiah
OccupationProgramme Director
OrganizationPemimpin Global School Leaders (GSL)
Notable workCo-founded LADAP Plus and the Malaysia Teacher Prize

Samuel Isaiah is a Malaysian educator and programme director known for his work improving English education among Orang Asli (indigenous) children in rural Malaysia.

Career

Isaiah enrolled in Teaching of English as a Second Language (TESL) and trained at Teachers Training College in Penang. After graduating with an initial goal to teach in an urban school, he was deployed to SK Runchang, a rural school in Pahang.[1]

He worked as an English teacher at SK Runchang where he commuted nearly 200 km daily for eight years while building connections with the indigenous Orang Asli students. Isaiah intitated a project to create a fully equipped classroom with computer and tablets while he worked to improve students English proficiency by training other teachers.[2]

Isaiah is currently the Programme Director of Pemimpin GSL, an organisation that provides professional development programmes to equip school leaders with the skills to facilitate high-quality learning for students.[3]

Honours and Awards

In 2018, Isaiah was awarded with the Best Teacher Award at the ASEAN-ELT Conference, and the Best Innovative Teacher that was presented by the Prime Minister of Malaysia.[4]

In 2019, Isaiah was awarded the Star Golden Hearts Award and the National Hero Teacher Award respectively.[5]

In 2020, Isaiah was named a top 10 finalist for the Varkey Foundation–UNESCO Global Teacher Prize, selected from over 12,000 nominations worldwide. He was the first Malaysian teacher to earn this recognition.[6]

In 2021 and 2022, he was named to Tatler Asia's "Asia's Most Influential" list.[7]

In 2022, Isaiah received the Anugerah Harapan Merdeka, a category under the Merdeka Award for his commitment to improving education among Orang Asli children[8].

References

  1. "Samuel Isaiah". Wiki Impact. Retrieved 2026-06-08.
  2. Tan, Joycelyn (2021-01-14). "After His Efforts Were Globally Recognised, Samuel Isaiah Stopped Teaching—But Here's Why". Vulcan Post. Retrieved 2026-06-08.
  3. Asia, Tatler. "Samuel Isaiah | Tatler Asia". Tatler Asia. Archived from the original on 2022-12-04. Retrieved 2026-06-08.
  4. "Samuel Isaiah". Global Teacher Prize. 2022-11-03. Retrieved 2026-06-08.
  5. "Samuel Isaiah". Wiki Impact. Retrieved 2026-06-08.
  6. "Malaysian teacher Samuel Isaiah makes final 10 for US$1mln Global Teacher Prize 2020".
  7. Asia, Tatler. "Samuel Isaiah | Tatler Asia". Tatler Asia. Archived from the original on 2022-12-04. Retrieved 2026-06-08.
  8. "Samuel Isaiah - 2022 | Merdeka Award". www.merdekaaward.my. Retrieved 2026-06-08.