Outstanding teachers, principals honoured

Every student knows the feeling of anticipating his or her marks, but on Monday it was the teachers’ turn to find out who among them was at the top of the class. Anxiously awaiting the results of the Queen Rania Al Abdullah Award for Excellence in Education’s sixth Teacher’s Award and second Principal’s Award, educators from various schools and subject areas said they took pride in their honourable profession. "Being able to influence even a first grader means a lot to me. I never let any student of mine face a problem without getting involved and spreading the spirit of hope," Najah Tweit, who ended up taking third place in the distinguished principal award, told The Jordan Times yesterday. Although she said she leads a "very difficult life", the director of a Ramtha school noted that she has learned to maintain a positive attitude that helps her greatly in her day-to-day work. "It's not any student’s business if I have personal problems. People don’t believe that I’m a principal because of my easygoing nature, but I tell them this is exactly what makes me excel," Tweit said. Her Majesty Queen Rania yesterday presented the awards to 25 outstanding teachers and seven excelling principals from across the Kingdom at a ceremony held at the Applied Science University. Thanking teachers and principals for their dedication and devotion to their schools and students, the Queen encouraged them to teach civic duty to their students in the context of the ongoing reform dialogue in Jordan. “Change for us is an opportunity... an opportunity to learn from the past, and set modern plans for our future,” Her Majesty said, entrusting educators to stress active citizenship in their classrooms and to encourage their students to be at the forefront of positive change. “Teach them responsibility; teach them how to transform their love for Jordan into constructive work, so Jordan and they can grow together,” she exhorted. Ilham Abdul Karim, a first place winner of the teachers' award in the seventh to 10th grade category, said encouraging students to do research is what made her stand out. "This is the first time I have applied for the award. I didn’t imagine that I would win and was even scared to come today… If there is one thing that made me win, it would be my efforts to leverage the available learning resources to support research and discovery," the science teacher highlighted. The ceremony, which was also attended by Their Royal Highnesses Princess Rym, Princess Ghida and Princess Areej Ghazi, and Sharifa Sarra Bint Ghazi, included a screening of a documentary film illustrating the awards’ criteria. Attendees also viewed two short films on the goals and aspirations of the distinguished teachers and principals and their impact on both students and colleagues. The annual teacher’s award was launched in 2005 and the biennial principal’s award was initiated in 2009. This year, 1,911 educators applied for the teacher’s award, while the principal’s award received 282 applications from across the Kingdom. In addition to the award, over the course of three years, the winners will be presented with several incentives including promotions. They will also be offered opportunities to participate in several professional and academic development activities offered by the Association of Queen Rania Al Abdullah Award for Excellence in Education in collaboration with various educational institutions. Furthermore, winners will be appointed as the association’s field ambassadors in order to become role models for their colleagues and to effectively contribute to advancing the country’s educational and scholastic environment. During yesterday's award ceremony, Minister of Education Eid Dahiyat commended Queen Rania’s initiatives to support schools and teachers, stressing they play an integral part in developing the Kingdom’s education system.