The winner of the annual Global Teacher Prize Ukraine 2025 has been announced. The title goes to Ruslan Shalamov – a biology and ecology teacher from Kharkiv.

"Ruslan Shalamov once aspired to be a biochemist, but a chance lesson in 1994 revealed his true calling. Since then, he has nurtured Olympiad winners and world-class scientists, co-authored educational standards, authored textbooks, and mentored numerous teachers", – state the award organizers.

According to the NGO "Osvitoria", Ruslan Shalamov is actively involved in implementing the New Ukrainian School reform and works on developing educational standards. He also created an innovative biology program and authored over 50 books, 10 of which are Ministry of Education approved textbooks.

"While working at school, he defended his PhD in biochemistry. Many of his students now work at leading universities worldwide. He has conducted hundreds of training sessions for teachers, promoting a child-centered approach and competency-based methods", – say representatives from "Osvitoria".

The teacher received one million hryvnias to fulfill his educational dream.

The Global Teacher Prize Ukraine – is an annual national award aimed at recognizing teachers’ achievements not only with their students but also within society, highlighting the importance of educators in Ukraine. It is part of the global prize of the same name.

This year, a record 2300 nominations were submitted, the highest in the award's history.

More than 250 volunteers evaluated the applications from various cities in Ukraine. At this stage, the top 50 nominees were identified, and then 14 experts from NGOs, the public sector, and previous finalists joined the evaluation.

In-depth interviews were conducted with the candidates, resulting in the selection of the top 10 teachers for 2025. During a two-day assessment center, a competent jury determined the winner through secret voting.