The Surinamese-Dutch Rutu Foundation has won the UNESCO King Sejong Literacy Prize 2026 with its international Language Friendly School network. The award was presented on September 8, during International Literacy Day, in San Juan Chamula, Mexico.
A cash prize of 30,000 US dollars is attached to the award. According to the foundation, Rutu Foundation is the first Dutch organisation to receive this UNESCO distinction.
The prize holds special significance for Suriname, as the idea for Language Friendly School originated in Galibi. There, in 2012, founder Ellen-Rose Kambel worked with teachers from the Sint Antoniusschool on the bilingual mathematics method Natuurlijk, Rekenen!.
Under this method, Kari’na was given a place in the classroom alongside Dutch. According to the organisation, the collaboration with teachers and pupils in the villages of Christiaankondre and Langamankondre formed the basis for the further development of the initiative.
Network active in twelve countries
Language Friendly School was developed by Kambel and co-founder Emmanuelle Le Pichon-Vorstman of the University of Toronto. The international network now includes around seventy schools in twelve countries.
In 2023, the Sint Antoniusschool received honorary membership of Language Friendly School in recognition of its contribution. According to the foundation, this made the school the world’s first Indigenous language-friendly school and Suriname’s first language-friendly school.
“This prize is not only a recognition of our work. Above all, it is a recognition of what teachers and pupils in Galibi have shown us: that education only works when children are allowed to use their own language,” Kambel says.
According to her, the initiative that began in Galibi has since found followers worldwide.
Attention to Indigenous languages
Since its establishment in 2011, the Rutu Foundation has been committed to multilingual and intercultural education. The organisation pays particular attention to the rights of Indigenous peoples.
The work in Galibi is being continued with support from, among others, the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. According to the foundation, the project also serves as a pilot model for language-friendly education in other parts of Suriname’s interior.
