Tabichi, who also a member of the Franciscan religious order, teaches at the Keriko Mixed Day Secondary School on Pwani Village, Nakuru, in a remote part of the country's Rift Valley. Some of his 480 students walk more than four miles to attend the school. He has expanded the school's Science Club and begun a Talent Nurturing Club and has seen his students themselves succeed in national and international science competitions, including winning an award from the Royal Society of Chemistry for their project that generated electricity by harnessing energy from local plant life and qualifying for the 2019 INTEL International Science and Engineering Fair.

The school has one desktop computer and an intermittent Internet signal. Still, Tabichi insists on using computer technology in the majority of his teaching time. He routinely travels to a nearby cyber cafe to download lessons for this students. Enrollment at the school has doubled in just three years. Achievement, particularly that of girls, has risen as well.

In the wider community, he helped people find ways to grow vegetables in the sparsely watered region, and he also started peace clubs that united seven different tribes in the face of violence following a recent election.

Tabichi, who comes from a family of teachers and has himself taught for 12 years, gives 80 percent of his salary to his students to meet their basic needs and to sustainable agriculture projects, in an area prone to famine. He said that he would use the money to improve the school, perhaps by improving the Internet connection and computer equipment, and, of course, to help his students.

Tabichi was one of ten finalists. The other finalists were these:

• Vladimer Aphkazav, from Chibati Public School in the country of Georgia
• Debora Garofalo, from EMEF Almirante Ary Parreiras, in São Paulo, Brazil
• Daisy Merterns, from De Vuurvogel, in Helmond, Netherlands
• Andrew Moffat, from Parkfield Community, in Birmingham, U.K.
• Swaroop Rawal, from Lavad Primary School, in Gujarat (and other schools), India
• Melissa Salguero, from Joseph R. Drake Elementary School in the Bronx, New York
• Martin Savletti, from Technical Secondary School No. 5, in Buenos Aires, Argentina
• Yasodai Selvakumaran, from Rooty Hill High School, in New South Wales, Australia
• Hidekazu Shoto, from Ritsumeikan Primary School, in Kyoto, Japan.

Nancie Atwell, a English teacher from Maine, won the first-ever Global Teacher Prize, in 2015. Palestinian primary school teacher Hanan Al Hroub won in 2016. An Inuit teacher, Maggie MacDonnell from Salluit, Quebec, Canada, won in 2017. The 2018 prize went to London-based arts and textiles teacher Andria Zafirakou.

Choosing the winner each year is a panel made up of the more than 200 members of the Global Teacher Prize Academy, which include company directors, education officials including head teachers, journalists, scientist, and technology entrepreneurs. The academy initially select a group of 40, then narrow the list to 10.

The criteria for selection of the finalists and the winner include using innovative practices that overcome school-specific challenges and can also be replicated globally, making an impact in the wider community, being recognized by national teaching organizations, and helping students focus on the world as a whole.

Presenting the award each year was the Varkey Foundation, a London-based education organization that specializes in teacher training, refugee education, and education technology. The foundation also advises countries that award a national teacher prize.