Global Teacher Prize: World's best teacher gives half his $1m prize away!

A teacher from a village school in India, praised for improving the education of girls, has won this year's Global Teacher Prize.

Ranjitsinh Disale, received $1m (£750,000) in prize money but said in his winners speech that he would share half of the prize money with the nine runners-up in the competition - the first time the Global Teacher Prize winner has done this.

Teachers "always believe in giving and sharing" Mr Disale said.

Sunny Varkey, one of the organisers of the competition, said "by sharing the prize you teach the world the importance of giving".

The Indian teacher runs a project to bring people together across war zones

Mr Disale teaches at Zilla Parishad Primary School, in the village of Paritewadi in the western Indian state of Maharashtra which is an area of India that doesn't see much rainfall and often faces droughts.

He was praised by the competition's judges for his work to ensure disadvantaged girls went to school and achieved high results - rather than missing out on school and facing early marriage.

He also provides online science lessons for pupils in 83 countries and runs an international project building connections between young people in war zones.

"In this hard time, teachers are giving their best to make sure every student has access to their birthright of a good education," Mr Disale said.