Issue No: 1/2010 - MINDS

Two Outstanding SPED
Teachers within MINDS
Text by Desiree Lim & Jeanie Morgan
On 13 November 2009, three
teachers in Singapore received the
Outstanding SPecial EDucation
(SPED) Teacher Award (OSTA) from
the hands of Ms Grace Fu, Senior
Minister of State, Ministry of National
Development and Ministry of
Education.
The OSTAs are given out annually
to honour the recipients as
outstanding SPED teachers who
have demonstrated the passion,
commitment, courage and
perseverance needed to nurture
and inspire our children with special
needs.
Out of the three award-winning
teachers are two of our very own
teachers from MINDS SPED
schools and they are Mdm Jenny
Lim Geok Hong of Lee Kong Chian
Gardens School (LGS) and Ms
Erni Noorhaidah bte Ahmad of
Woodlands Gardens School (WGS).
Mdm Lim devoted her entire
career life to teaching children with
intellectual disability at MINDS.
Her commitment to the school
and dedication to her pupils was
apparent since she first joined
MINDS in 1988. Her passion instilled
in her a thirst for knowledge and this
led to her further achievement of
Diploma in Disability Studies on top
of her basic degree. Today, Mdm Lim
is the vice principal of LGS and is
pursuing her Masters degree.
Mdm Lim (middle) and Ms Erni (fourth from right) with their colleagues from MINDS at the MOE-
NCSS SPED Teacher Award Presentation Ceremony 2009.
Ms Erni began her SPED teaching
career with MINDS in 1992. She
teaches pre-vocation skills to
students of senior level. Talented
in music and dance, Ms Erni
choreographs and teaches her
students dance as well. She has also
been a regular volunteer for Special
Olympics for the past 17 years.
On her receipt of the award, Ms Erni
said, “This award to me is not an
individual win but a collaborative
effort from everyone that has
touched my life direct or indirectly
in this field. It is a win for all special
education teachers and a reminder
for us to strive even more to enhance
the standard of teaching and learning
in SPED. With this award, the work of
special educators is being
recognised and is highly regarded.
And hopefully it will attract more
people into this field.”
A career in teaching children with
intellectual disability is a very
demanding and tough choice.
People who stayed on and become
effective educators are few. But
those who went further as to make a
difference to the children, the school
and the industry are rare gems. Here
within MINDS, we celebrate the
contributions and achievements of
two of own gems. To Ms Erni and
Mdm Lim, thank you for your hard
work all along. You have made us
proud.
11 mindspeak: the heartvoice of special people