On Tuesday, tech billionaire and founder of Microsoft, Bill Gates, thanked Dubai's ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum for his contribution to Varkey Foundation's Global Teacher Prize in a video posted to Twitter.
"For his patronage of the prize, thank you to the Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed," Gates said.
Varkey Foundation - which is a not-for-profit organization aimed at improving the standards of education for underprivileged children around the world - awards an exceptional teacher, from anywhere in the world, each year with $1 million prize money.
The ceremony takes place annually in Dubai as part of the Global Education and Skills Forum. This year, the award will be handed out on March 18.
The video was an announcement of all the nominees up in the running for the 2018 Global Teacher Prize, which saw around 30,000 applicants from 173 countries apply.
The finalists are from South Africa, Australia, United Kingdom, Brazil, United States, the Philippines, Belgium, Colombia, Turkey, and Norway.
Developed by Sunny Varkey, Founder and Executive Chairman of the GEMS Education Group, the Global Teacher Prize was established to "give recognition to a teacher who has made an outstanding contribution to a teaching profession."
In 2013, Varkey commissioned a study to explore global attitudes towards teaching, and noticed a drop in people's outlook on the profession.
In an effort to curb the negative sentiments, Varkey established the prize to do so.