Nipissing alumnus receives Prime Minister's Award

Nipissing University Schulich School of Education alumnus Imran Mohamed has been honoured for his exceptional achievements in teaching with a prestigious Prime Minister's Award for Teaching Excellence.

Mohamed teaches grade 10 to 12 students in business, computer science and accounting at John Polanyi Collegiate Institute in Toronto in one of the City’s high needs communities. His teaching approach focuses on harnessing social and community entrepreneurship for educational and social change. He views students as digital learners and provides all students with access to appropriate technology while at school to ensure equitable outcomes. Through community outreach and partnerships, Mohamed forges deep relationships with those he teaches. 

“I have been fortunate as a student to have amazing educators in my life from when I was very young. I learned a lot from them and I try to bring this into my teaching practice every day,” said Mohamed. “I was also fortunate to have two professors at Nipissing University who had worked in Toronto and understood the needs of a diverse student population. Carole Richardson was actually one of my middle school teachers some 15 years before we met again at Nipissing University.”

“Mr. Mohamed has always challenged students to think critically about what they could do to improve themselves and the lives of others, take action and be persistent for the things they are passionate about and increase their awareness of the problems around the world,” said one of Mohamed’s students about his teaching.

Mohamed has many notable achievements throughout his teaching career such as leading the school's Information and Communication Technology program and spearheading the building of a podcast studio and teleconferencing hub to enable students to mentor peers in a remote Indigenous community. He also engineered a partnership with MaRs Discovery District for students to solve practical, real-world problems and founded JPCI CITY (Change Impacting Toronto's Youth) that has allowed students to raise more than $120,000 to address issues such as access to clean water, food insecurity and homelessness.

The Prime Minister's Awards for Teaching Excellence have honoured exceptional elementary and secondary school teachers in all disciplines since 1994, with over 1,600 teachers honoured to date. Recipients are selected for their remarkable achievements in education and commitment to preparing students for a digital and innovation-based economy. Learn more about Imran Mohamed, his teaching approach and accomplishments here.