The Palestinian teacher, Rana Ziadeh, culminated in her 16-year career in education by being selected from the International Women’s Foundation in the United States of America, among 60 inspiring women worldwide.

But the ambition of the forty-year-old teacher has no limits, and she told Al-Jazeera Net, "I feel proud of being selected alongside leading and inspiring women in various fields, and I will continue to work so that the Palestinian girl has a pioneering and pioneering role."

During her class at "Al Zahra Secondary School for Girls" east of Gaza, Al Jazeera Net attended part of it. Rana seemed to increase interaction with her students, and she was striving to simplify mathematical rules.

Ziada says, "Mathematics is not a rigid number language, it is the mother of science. Those who are proficient in mathematics excel in all other sciences. But that needs a teacher who has a strong human relationship with his students and gains their confidence, before his teaching abilities."

Rana inherited the love of the teaching profession from her father, who worked as a teacher for many years in Algeria, where she was born (Al-Jazeera)

The story begins

Rana inherited the love of the teaching profession from her father, who worked as a teacher for many years in Algeria, which witnessed the birth of Rana, before the family's return to Gaza in the mid-nineties of the last century.

Rana used to see the extent of the love and respect that the students show to her father, and that was her motivation to follow in his footsteps, so she specialized in mathematics and joined the education corps.

Rana did not want to be a traditional teacher, and since her early beginnings in education, she was keen on excellence, by devising creative methods to simplify mathematical rules, and implanting a love for mathematics in the hearts of her students.

"Many people ask what we can benefit from mathematics, and they find it difficult to learn and understand it," Rana says. "But if mathematics is linked to life, and its rules are applied to solve life problems, the material becomes beautiful and attractive."

Rana was chosen by the British "Varkey" Foundation last year among the 50 best teachers in the world, and she also won the International Cooperation Foundation award (Al Jazeera).

Success march

In addition to her creativity in her educational career, Rana wanted to develop herself by obtaining a master's degree in curricula and methods of teaching mathematics, and during this long career she has won many appreciation awards.

"Awards are not an objective, but they encourage continued success and make every effort to serve the community," she says.

In 2015, Rana won the Palestine Prize for Creativity and Educational Research, first place in the Palestine Inspiration Contest, and in 2017 she won the title of the first teacher at the level of Palestine, in addition to winning the same year in the "My Initiative" competition launched by the Ministry of Education in Gaza.

Last year, it was chosen among the top 50 teachers around the world by the Varkey Foundation in Britain, a partner of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), in addition to winning the same year the International Cooperation Foundation award at the level of Palestine.

Rana feels proud and satisfied with what she presented, and sees the awards she won in appreciation for her and as an encouragement for teachers (Al Jazeera)

Inspirational story

Rana feels a lot of pride and satisfaction with what she has provided during her education career, and she sees in these awards she received as a appreciation for her, and as an encouragement for other teachers to make every effort to improve education and the level of the Palestinian student.

"My choice as an inspiring Palestinian woman, along with two heads of state, an astronaut, and a member of the United Nations Organization for Women," she said, "is not only a tribute to me, but a certificate of appreciation for the Palestinian teachers, who work under difficult and harsh conditions due to the occupation and siege."

Regarding the way she was chosen from among the inspirations around the world, Rana explained that the selection is not made through submission or nomination.

But by pursuing work and activities for a long time.

Rana has not stopped communicating with her students during the past months since the outbreak of the Corona pandemic, and the schools and the educational process have been disrupted, and she devised creative methods to ensure that female students do not completely stop education.

Rana Atta was not limited to her students only, and she initiated a project to provide 50 children from poor families who do not have access to the means of communication and the Internet, with working papers that she delivered to them home through female volunteer students who follow with her.

In order to keep them continuing their education during the Corona crisis.

Rana believes that her experience during the Corona crisis, and the interest of international institutions, most notably the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), with her initiatives, prompted the International Women's Foundation to follow her silently, and the main reasons for her selection were among the inspiring women around the world.

Rana devoted her life to improving the level of education and succeeded in creating a teaching method based on knowledge trips (Al-Jazeera)

Achievements and successes

Rana's self-initiatives during the Corona pandemic crisis were a continuation of a long march of creativity, and she believes that this pandemic is not the worst that the Palestinian people have gone through, who have been suffering the woes of decades under occupation.

Rana, whose home was bombed and destroyed during the first Israeli war on Gaza in 2008, said, "Difficult conditions should not constitute an obstacle to the march of education and creativity, and the Palestinian people are among the peoples of the world who believe in the importance of education and who are most in need of it, and this explains the distinction of the Palestinian student." Everywhere".

Rana, who is married and has 4 children, says that she hopes to find the reward for her efforts in her children, and to find someone to care about in their educational career.

Rana devotes her life to improving the level of education, especially teaching mathematics. She has succeeded in devising a qualitative teaching method based on knowledge trips for high school students, and has launched an interactive website that contains various sections linking mathematics with other sciences, and interacting with her students and those interested through “Fusoul” Virtual study "through e-learning via distance, and test the extent of their benefit with questions and tests.

Rana, who heads the Palestine Center for Making Minds, not only considers herself a teacher;

Rather, she deals with her students as a guide (Al Jazeera)

Ambition

Rana says that her dreams and aspirations are not personal, although she hopes that she will be named "the best teacher in the world."

However, this is not the goal. Rather, it looks forward to the day when Palestinian women will assume the role they deserve at the forefront of society, and be in the forefront of leadership positions alongside men.

Rana, who heads the Palestine Center for the Industry of Minds, not only considers herself a math teacher;

Rather, she deals with her students as a mentor and guide for them, and her influence has been evident on many of them.

Reem Daoud and Amani Younes are two students at Rana, and they seemed to be greatly affected by their teacher. They told Al-Jazeera Net, "With Professor Rana, mathematics is not a complex, and even life has become easier and more beautiful, and every day implants in us hope and insistence on success and creativity."