2009 Awards

The winners of the 2009 Commonwealth Education Good Practice Awards are:

Ba Kelalan Primary School, Sarawak, Malaysia and Ulu Labai Primary School, Malaysia. 

The 2009 awards were presented by Malaysia’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education, Honourable Tan Sri Muhyiddin Mohd. Yassin, Commonwealth Deputy Secretary-General Ransford Smith and the President of the National Union of the Teaching Profession, Rtd. Lt. Hashim Adnan.

Nine finalists were shortlisted from a total of 49 submissions for the Commonwealth Education Good Practice Awards 2009.

All finalists were required to demonstrate relevance, measurable impact and effect, sustainability, efficiency and effectiveness, community participation and contribution, and the potential to be replicated.

The winners of the Education Awards were announced in Malaysia on 16 June 2009 at the 17th Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers. 

Finalists

Botswana

Ministry of Education and Skills Development

The Teacher Capacity Building Programme for HIV/AIDS contributes to the prevention and mitigation of AIDS through strengthening the capacity of education and communication sectors. Through a “Talk Back” television programme, the Good Practice offers teachers a vehicle to confront their own fears, denial and secrecy surrounding the pandemic. The skills, knowledge and attitudes which they require are strengthened in the war against HIV/AIDS in which education plays a major role.

India

Brihanmumbai Shikshak Saba (Mumbai Municipal Teacher's Association)

The Adolescent Girls Health Education Programme evolved from a survey conducted by a large teachers union in Mumbai, India, which revealed that the reasons for girls absenteeism from school was due to lack of information about their menstruation cycle and hygiene. This Good Practice undertook to target 200,000 girls, aged 8 – 14 years and educate them about physiological and psychological changes during the menarche and in so doing reduce the high levels of absenteeism among adolescent girls in more than 1,100 schools.

Malaysia

SK Ulu Labai - Winner

The Total Involvement of the Community in Improving School Performance project is a Good Practice centered in a remote school in a farming community in Sarawak, which has been challenged to deliver education in difficult circumstances. The community has been instrumental in building the school and has launched a Parent Teacher’s Association, leading to a higher level of student achievement and a sense of community ownership.

Sabah State Education Department

The Accelerating/Enhancing Teaching and Learning Process through Buddy Stops project is a school-based initiative to improve quality in education by locating games and activities around the school compound so that pupils may learn whilst playing. Teachers may also use the “Stops” for regular lessons and this Good Practice helps to improve interpersonal skills, racial integration and promotes cultural activities such as story-telling.

Ba Kelalan Primary School, Sarawak - Winner

The Community Participation in Achieving Quality Education in Difficult Circumstances project is situated in a school in the heart of the Borneon jungle and is intended to improve the quality of education despite the difficult circumstances faced in education delivery. Since 2000 the school carried out its Good Practice through mobilizing the community to contribute voluntary service and making the school a safer and more orderly place for children to study. This has led to a 43% improvement in student examination passes.

Mauritius

Ministry of Education, Culture and Human Resources

The project entitled From Individual to Community: Quality Teaching in Mauritius is a Good Practice which seeks to enhance education quality through development of a culture of collaboration among teachers and students of different schools. Peer teaching, parent participation, integration of the curriculum and collaborative teaching and sharing of knowledge have led to major improvement sin in student performance, motivation and social interaction.

Pakistan

Idara-e-Taleem-o-Aagahi (ITA) Public Trust

The project entitled Addressing the vulnerable through Quality Learning and Protection – Drop In Centres for Rag Pickers and Child Domestic Labour provides child labourers with the opportunity to access non-formal education and at the same time obtain protection from being victims of sexual trafficking and violence. The Good Practice provides learning options such as accelerated programmes, school readiness, vocational training and a life skills training programme. To date almost 5,000 children have benefited from this project which has expanded to many states in Pakistan.

Uganda

Ministry of Education and Sports

The Presidential Initiative on AIDS Strategy to Youth (PIASCY) is a Good Practice designed to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS and to mitigate its impact on primary and post-primary education institutions in Uganda. Launched by the President of that country on his return from a UN Special Assembly on the Pandemic in 2001, the programme has played a central role in preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS. Since 2003, a variety of initiatives have targeted 7.5 million children in 14,816 primary schools.

United Kingdom

British Council

The Department for International Development Global School Partnerships enables schools to develop a global dimension within their curriculum in support of mutually beneficial, equitable and sustainable partnerships between schools in different countries across the globe. This Good Practice raises awareness of world-wide issues and concerns, in its bid to help young people become active global citizens. More than 2000 partnerships exist between the United Kingdom and 68 developing countries.