Two Malaysian projects scoop joint prize in education awards

Two schools projects from Malaysia were last night (Tuesday) announced as joint winners of the 2009 Commonwealth Education Good Practice Awards at a ceremony in Putrajaya, Malaysia.

The pan-Commonwealth adjudication panel, which comprised of members from Jamaica, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, South Africa, United Kingdom, Uganda and Zambia described all submissions as of a high standard and worthy of being winners by virtue of having been selected from nearly fifty education good practices from across the Commonwealth.

The projects were from Ba Kelalan Primary School Sarawak on Community Participation in Achieving Quality Education in Difficult Circumstances and Ulu Labai Primary School on The Total Involvement of the Community in Improving School Performance.

Jaul anak Bunyau, Headmaster of Ulu Lubai Primary School said that it was a great honour for his community. “Our success tonight shows that if you are working in difficult circumstances and really want to be successful there is always a way. Our community gave us the strength and support we needed and that's why we can be standing here feeling very proud tonight.”

Pudun Tadam, Headmaster, Ba Kelalan Primary School, explained: “We didn't have resources but we were able to get the community to help us because they started to trust us. We promised them that if they help us we will work to move our school from the bottom ten in the district to the top ten and we delivered on that through being strategic and putting our hearts into it.”

“My message to those in difficult circumstances is that giving people money alone is not enough to cause change in marginalised communities. You have to change the mindset. That's what happened in our community.”

A Teacher Capacity Building Programme for HIV/AIDS from the Ministry of Education and Skills Development, Botswana, was nominated as the runner up for the Awards, held for the second time and attracted 49 entries from more than a quarter of Commonwealth countries, including six small states.

The awards highlight good practice in education throughout the Commonwealth according to six action areas: achieving universal primary education; eliminating gender disparities in education; improving quality in education; using distance learning to overcome barriers; supporting education in difficult circumstances; and mitigating the impact of HIV/AIDS on education systems.

The ceremony, held during the 17th Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers, also marked the inauguration of the Steve Sinnott Award for Commonwealth Teachers. The finalist, whose good practice was deemed as having made a positive difference to the status, condition or professional development of the teaching profession in the Commonwealth, was a DFID Global Schools Partnerships project from the British Council, United Kingdom.

This year at the request of the Ministry of Education, Malaysia, three special awards were made for good practices in the action areas of Achieving Quality in Education and Delivering Education in Difficult Circumstances.

The winners were :

Mauritius – Ministry of Education, Culture and Human Resources: From Individual to Community: Quality Teaching in Mauritius.

Pakistan – Idara-e-Taleem-o-Aagahi (ITA) Public Trust: Addressing the Vulnerable through Quality learning and protection – Drop-in Centres for Rag Pickers and Child Domestic Labour.

Malaysia- Sabah State Education Department: Accelerating and Enhancing the Teaching and Learning Process through Buddy Stops

The 2009 awards were presented by Malaysia’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education, 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.

FINALISTS FOR THE 2009 COMMONWEALTH EDUCATION GOOD PRACTICE AWARDS

BOTSWANA
Ministry of Education and Skills Development
Teacher Capacity Building Programme for HIV/AIDS

INDIA
Brihanmumbai Shikshak Saba
Adolescent Girls Health Education Programme

MALAYSIA
SK Ulu Lubai
Total Involvement of the Community in Improving School Performance

MALAYSIA
Sabah State Education Department
Accelerating/Enhancing Teaching and Learning Process through Buddy Stops

MALAYSIA
Ba Kelalan Primary SchooL, Sarawak
Community Participation in Achieving Quality Education in Difficult Circumstances

MAURITIUS
Ministry of Education, Culture and Human Resources
From Individual to Community: Quality Teaching in Mauritius.

PAKISTAN
Idara-e-Taleem-o-Aagahi (ITA) Public Trust
Addressing the Vulnerable through Quality Learning and Protection – Drop In Centres for Rag Pickers
and Child Domestic Labour

UGANDA
Ministry of Education and Sports
Presidential Initiative on AIDS Strategy to Youth (PIASCY)

UNITED KINGDOM
British Council
Department for International Development Global School Partnership

Secretariat Links:

• Education
• Good Practice Awards

Related Websites:

• DfID UK