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Best teachers from Verkhnyaya Salda, Nizhnyaya Salda, and Svobodny have received Empathy awards
14.09.2026 — News
SVERDLOVSK REGION
On September 11, the names of 120 winners of the Best Teachers pedagogical competition were announced in Verkhnyaya Salda. The competition has been held by Mikhail Shelkov's Empathy Charitable Foundation since 2023. Throughout the 2026/2027 academic year, all of them will receive monthly bonuses of 15,000 rubles. The overall prize fund of the competition amounts to 18 million rubles, the press service of the Foundation has told RusBusinessNews.
Sverdlovsk Region Governor Denis Pasler has also handed certificates of honor to Olga Arzhanova and Marina Likhanova, teachers at the Verkhnyaya Salda Children's Art School.
"High-quality education is the key to a prosperous future of the Sverdlovsk Region and the entire country. Developing every talent, from kindergarten all the way to starting a career, takes knowledge, skills, and support from teachers. Sverdlovsk Region has a strong teaching community – your hard work can be seen in the achievements of our children! We strive to ensure proper conditions for life, work, and professional development of teachers. And we're grateful when Ural business steps forward with their own initiatives to support teachers, complementing federal and regional programs. The programs that the Empathy Foundation has been implementing for six years now are a valuable contribution to the future of education and the entire region," noted Denis Pasler.
In 2026, more than 240 applications were submitted to the competition by teachers from the towns of Verkhnyaya Salda and Nizhnyaya Salda, as well as from the closed administrative territory of Svobodny. The jury selected one top leader and several prize-winners in each of the nine categories:
– Preschool Education
– First Discoveries (for elementary school teachers)
– Cultural Code (for teachers of Russian, Native and Foreign Language, Literature, History, and Geography)
– Analytical Thinking (for teachers of Mathematics and Natural Sciences)
– Harmonious Development (for teachers of Physical Education, Fundamentals of Life Safety, Fine Arts, Technology, and Music)
– Empathy (for class advisers, social educators, and educational psychologists)
– Supplementary Education (for supplementary education teachers, coordinators of school activities, coach-instructors, and concertmasters)
– Pathway to a Career (for industrial training masters and secondary vocational education teachers)
– Equal Opportunities (for teachers, special-needs experts, speech therapists, and caregivers at social rehabilitation centers for minors)
The annual competition for teachers is Empathy's second-largest initiative in Salda. Since 2020, all school teachers in Verkhnyaya Salda and Nizhnyaya Salda have been receiving a monthly bonus of 15,000 rubles during the academic year, excluding the two months of summer holidays. Since 2022, kindergarten principals and nursery teachers from these two towns have been included in the program. Consequently, the winners of the Best Teachers competition double their support from the Foundation.
"When we launched the Empathy Foundation six years ago, our first program was regular financial support for every teacher in Salda. The program was later expanded to include nursery teachers and employees of social rehabilitation centers, and it now covers more than 1,300 educators in two towns – all of them receive monthly support. The Best Teachers competition is an opportunity to reward the most active teachers in Verkhnyaya Salda, Nizhnyaya Salda, and Svobodny with additional bonuses, so that they continue working with children and sharing with them everything they love and know," noted Mikhail Shelkov, VSMPO‑AVISMA shareholder and founder of the Empathy Charitable Foundation.
The Empathy Foundation also implements other projects for teachers in the Sverdlovsk Region. In October 2025, Governor Denis Pasler and Mikhail Shelkov, the founder of the Empathy Foundation, signed an agreement to hold the regional pedagogical competition The Calling to Teach! More than 700 teachers took part in its first season. Awards were handed to 30 winners in ten categories in Ekaterinburg in March 2026. Three educational institutions won grants to bring their projects to life. The Empathy Foundation invested 12 million rubles in supporting teachers. The second season of the competition will start before the end of the year.
Photo: Empathy Charitable Foundation Press Service
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