Outstanding teachers to be honoured Thursday

Some of the country’s outstanding teachers are to be formally honoured on Thursday  when the Ministry of Education  convenes the 2010 National Teachers’ Awards ceremony at the National Cultural Centre.

The occasion  which is organized in collaboration with the Guyana Teachers’ Union and Laparkan Holdings will be chaired by Chief Education Officer Olato Sam, the education ministry said in a press release.

And teachers, students and educators will be at the grand event which will be addressed by Minister of Education Shaik Baksh.

According to the release, the regional awardees who are vying for the Teacher of the Year prize are Charlene Rodrigues of Santa  Rosa Secondary in Region One; Anand  Bisson of Aurora Secondary in Region Two;  Latchmin Gopal  of Leonora Primary in Region  Three; Praniva Singh of La Bonne Intention Primary in Region Four;   Shamena Charran of Novar Primary in Region Five;  La Wonda Fraser of New Amsterdam Multilateral in Region Six; Oretta McCubbin of Hill View Nursery in Region Seven; Ivy Lyte of Annai Nursery in Region Nine;  Roslyn Henry of Pine Street Nursery in Region Ten;  and Carol Barnes of Winfer Garden Primary in Georgetown.

In the meantime, Chaville Mitchell of Trafalgar Nursery in Region Five has received honourable mention for her dedication and commitment to the profession, the release added.

According to the ministry’s guidelines, nominees for the awards must be formally trained with at least five years of service at the beginning of the academic year.    Nominees are also required to have at least 90 per cent attendance and punctuality for the year they have been assessed and a 75 per cent pass rate in their class/subject at their schools’ annual examinations.

In addition, they had to conduct at three class level/subject level meetings with parents of the children they teach in the given school year.

Apart from these requirements for eligibility, the awardees were assessed in a number of areas including timely submission of records, pursuit to improve learning facilities and opportunities, innovative teaching methods, professional development assistance given to their colleagues, both intra-murally and extra-murally, participation in community activities, integrity, dignity of bearing, being a role model worthy of emulation, establishment of good rapport   with students and willingness to work beyond the call of duty.

Baksh had said that the award is expected to serve as a catalyst for motivating teachers to improve their delivery and performance in the classroom.