Finalists announced for Commonwealth Education Good Practice Awards

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

These entries – from Botswana, India, Malaysia, Pakistan, Uganda and the United Kingdom – were selected by a pan-Commonwealth panel of adjudicators made up of leading academics and educators.

The finalists’ entries range from a programme which looks at health education for adolescent girls, to a school that is aiming to achieve quality education by involving the local community.

“What really struck me was the dedication, seriousness and in many cases the innovation that came through in terms of conceptualising these projects,” said Professor Shaheen Sardar Ali, Professor of Law at Warwick University, UK, who is one of the adjudicators.

“You could actually see how much emphasis there was on working with the community; not having a top down approach and being inclusive by bringing in the more vulnerable and marginalised sections of society.”

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 submissions also had to address one or more of the following 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.

Ministers of education first proposed the idea of these awards for good and promising practices in education across the Commonwealth in 2003. This led to the first Good Practice Awards being launched in 2005, which identified a number of worthy projects during the year-long period of adjudication.

The adjudication panel for these awards is chaired by Malaysia’s Secretary-General of Education, Tan Sri Dr Zulkarnain Awang.

The following education experts are the other members of the adjudication panel:

- Jean Kekedo, Papua New Guinea High Commissioner to the United Kingdom

- Shaheen Sardar Ali, Professor of Law at Warwick University

- Professor Michael J Kelly, Jesuit priest and internationally recognised expert in the area of HIV/AIDS and Education

- Professor Elsa Leo-Rhynie, former Pro Vice-Chancellor of the University of the West Indies' Mona Campus

- Anastasia Nakkazi, a former Headmistress of Nabisunsa Girls Senior Secondary School and Mount St Mary’s Namagunga Girls Secondary School in Uganda

- Duncan Hindle, Director-General of Education in the Department of Education, South Africa

- Professor Kabiru Isyaku, currently Professor of Education at Kaduna State University in Nigeria.

Finalists - Commonwealth Education Good Practice Awards 2009

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