AKIPRESS.COM - A Palestinian teacher who grew up in a refugee camp in Bethlehem has been awarded a prestigious $1-mln teaching award by Dubai's ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Al Jazeera reported.

Hanan al-Hroub, from Samiha Khalil High School in al-Bireh, Palestine, received the Varkey Foundation Global Teacher Prize 2016 from Sheikh Maktoum and Sunny Varkey, founder of the Varkey Foundation, in Dubai at the weekend.

"I am proud to be a Palestinian female teacher standing on this stage," a jubilant Hroub said. "I accept this as a win for all teachers in general and Palestinian teachers in particular."

The award is now in its second year.

Hroub, who had witnessed a particularly rough childhood living in a violent Palestine refugee camp, used her childhood experiences to develop a teaching technique that focused on play as a learning tool and shunned violence.

The Palestinian teacher and author of the book We Play and Learn has shared her views at conferences, meetings and teacher training seminars.

Her approach has led to a decline in violent behavior in schools where this is usually a frequent occurrence.

Hroub has encouraged her colleagues to review the way they teach, their classroom management strategies and the sanctions they use to curb violence in the school.

She hopes that through education,eventually, there will be an elimination of violence altogether.