Sister Zeph won the 2023 Global Teacher Prize, helping her advocate for equal access to education. She grew up in Pakistan, and felt hopeless without access to schooling. She trained herself and became an inspirational teacher, and now dedicates her live to providing education to marginalised children and women. She built a school and a vocational training center from scratch, offering free education to underprivileged children. She invites children and young women who have experienced trauma to express their emotions and feelings in the safe space she has created for them.
Listen to Sister Zeph
“Whenever a life is transformed, whenever I see the change around me because of my work, it gives me more power. It makes me more passionate to do more, to transform more lives.”
Sister Zeph
Sister Zeph
Sister Zeph, whose birth name is Riffat Arif, is a teacher, women’s activist and philanthropist from Gujranwala, Pakistan, devoted to giving free education to vulnerable children and young women. In 2023, Sister Zeph won the Global Teacher Prize in honor of her achievements. She recently founded the Zephaniah Women’s Education and Empowerment Foundation (ZWEE) which organises twice weekly afternoon classes for children who can’t attend school full-time because they are working to support their families.
