The founder of the million-dollar Global Teacher Prize is to become the first education entrepreneur to sign up for Bill Gates’s campaign for philanthropic donations.

Sunny Varkey, the Indian-born founder of the Gems education business, is joining the Giving Pledge.

This is a commitment made by the extremely wealthy to give away most of their money to philanthropic causes.

Mr Varkey said he wanted to support the “vital cause” of education.

The Giving Pledge was set up five years ago by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and investor Warren Buffet as a way for the mega-rich to use their wealth for good causes.

Tech billionaires

So far, 136 individuals or families have made this commitment to give at least half of their money to philanthropic projects – including Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, Richard Branson of Virgin and one of the wealthiest technology entrepreneurs in the US, Larry Ellison.