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CARING TEACHER AWARDS 2008Caring Teachers an Inspiration to AllBy Jolene Tan, Public, International & Alumni RelationsThe 7th Caring Teacher Awards ceremony organised by NIE,partnered by ExxonMobil Asia Pacific, and supported by theMinistry of Education was held at the NTU Alumni Club on5 September 2008.Launched in 1996, the awards are aimed at acknowledging andrewarding teachers who, through their daily deeds and actions,exemplify the values of caring, sharing and concern for the academic,moral, social, emotional and mental welfare of their students.NIE received close to 2,000 nominations from 158 schools forthe national level awards. From this, 14 teachers werehonoured at the award ceremony, with three main winners and11 commendation winners.The ceremony was graced by Mr Wong Siew Hoong, Director ofSchools, Ministry of Education. In his welcome address, MrWong listed several characteristics of a caring teacher,including a passion for working with children; the belief thatevery child is worthy of learning and should be givenopportunities to benefit from education; and compassion andwillingness to go beyond the call of duty.In his words, “The most important characteristic is the ability tobuild good relations with their students.”There are 14 special teachers here today, all of whom havedemonstrated some, if not all, of the attributes we associate withcaring teachers. We want to recognise them and give them theresponsibilities of inspiring colleagues and the new generation ofteachers to be equally caring.”Commendation Award WinnersMdm Ng Wei Huah, Mee Toh SchoolMrs Diana Wang-Tien Choon Lan, Nanyang Primary SchoolMrs Khoo Phui Hong, Marymount Convent SchoolMdm Kiren Kaur, Yumin Primary SchoolMs Nelleke Eng Su-Ping, Northbrooks Secondary SchoolMdm Aishah bte Abdullah, Woodlands Ring Secondary SchoolMs Tan Peiru, Jurongville Secondary SchoolMrs Tan Lee Kiaw Lucy, Crescent Girls’ SchoolMs Lee Phui Jiun, Broadrick Secondary SchoolMr Muhamad Salahuddin B Ibrahim, Serangoon Junior CollegeMs Caroline Manonmani Selvanayagam, National Junior CollegeNational Award WinnersPrimary School Level Secondary School Level Junior College LevelMs Halimatussa’diah bte JaffarMs Halima has been a Malay Languageteacher at Junyuan Primary School forthe past five years. She was herself abeneficiary of selfless love from hercousin since her parents divorced whenshe was a child. She believes that everychild is special, valuable and deservesher attention, care and time.In her thank-you speech, she said, “Ifothers can shower their love on me, whycan’t I do it too.” During her spare time inschool, she makes it a point to meet upwith her weaker students for extracoaching even though they are no longerunder her direct charge. One of herstudents’ parents wrote, “She is a verydedicated teacher who shows care andconcern about her students, especiallythose who cannot read very well… Shemakes them believe that they can be betterlike any other students.”Ms Deborah NgMs Deborah Ng has been a ResourceTeacher at Ahmad Ibrahim SecondarySchool for the past 30 years. Ms Ng,herself a visually-handicapped person,believes that disability is no hindrance tolearning. Besides imparting academicknowledge to her visually-impairedcharges, she goes the extra mile bysharing with them important life skillssuch as boiling water and preparingsimple meals for themselves. Thisencourages them to lead normal lives.Mr Michael KwokA mid-career change has Mr Michael Kwokfulfilling his dream in teaching. He has beenin the teaching service for almost 10 years,and is currently the Head of Department forPhysical Education at Pioneer JuniorCollege. Michael believes in the holisticdevelopment of his student-athletes, andgoing the extra mile to help his students intheir studies by personally supervising theirstudy sessions. One of his students wrote,“Mr Kwok had faith in each and every oneof us wanting to improve, and he found away to bring that out. As long as we werethere, he appeared to trust a 100% that wewere not going to let him down.”NIE news03