Hamdan bin Rashid honours winners of 2014 UNESCO-Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum Prize

Paris (WAM): Hamdan honours winners of UNESCO-Hamdan bin Rashid Prize for Outstanding Practice and Performance Paris: As part of the 20th anniversary celebrations for World Teacher’s Day, H.H. Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai and U.A.E. Minister of Finance, on Tuesday awarded the 2014 UNESCO-Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum Prize for Outstanding Practice and Performance in Enhancing the Effectiveness of Teachers. Addressing the award-giving ceremony at the UNESCO headquarters, Sheikh Hamdan commended the UNESCO's role as an incubator for education and culture worldwide, pointing out to the joint efforts being made by the prize and UNESCO to encourage and motivate teachers in developing communities and to recognise their dedication and efforts to elevate human communities by spreading education and knowledge, eliminating poverty and removing obstacles facing others to change their lives to the better For this third edition of the Prize, three laureates were selected from 99 projects received from 64 countries. The prize was given to the following: -Oxfam Novib and Education International (Belgium) for its programme "Quality Educators for All: Every Child needs a Good Teacher (Quality-Ed)". The programme was established in Mali and Uganda in 2007. It brings together government representatives, teachers unions, civil society and academics to develop a competence profile for primary school teachers, in a bid to reform teacher training and professional development programmes. -SOS Villages d’enfants (Madagascar) for its Teacher Training Programme, which has provided training, through non-formal classes, specifically targeting primary and secondary school teachers since 2011. -The ProEd Foundation (Panama) was chosen for its Teachers Teaching Teachers – Professional Learning Community (PLC) project. This project aims to provide high-quality, continuous professional development for teachers and school administrators of all ethnic, socioeconomic and gender orientations in Panama’s public and low-income private schools. The Prize, created in 2009 and funded by Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, is awarded every two years to projects that make an exceptional contribution to the improvement of teaching quality, especially in developing countries or in disadvantaged or marginalized communities. Awarded every two years, the Prize is worth US $270.000 and is divided between three winners. As well as aiming to improve educational practices around the world, it also gives priority to developing countries and to marginalized and disadvantaged communities. Sheikh Hamdan congratulated the winners and expressed gratitude to the Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova, for her relentless efforts towards development of education and learning techniques and programmes, particularly in developing countries. The Director General of UNESCO praised Sheikh Hamdan for his unstinted support for education, educators and learners at local and regional levels, notably in African counties which desperately need education. She also lauded the U.A.E.'s role in developing education and teaching methods and technologies, noting that education tops priorities of the U.A.E.'s sustainable development agenda. She also praised the U.A.E. for offering financial assistance to other countries and the wise leadership approaches for spreading science and combating extremism and ignorance in developing countries. Sheikh Hamdan flanked by Hussain bin Ibrahim Al Hammadi, Minister of Education, and Chairman of Board of Trustees of Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum award for Distinguished Academic Performance, and Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova, honoured winners from Belgium, Panama and Madagascar. Sheikh Hamdan also honoured Bokova. Sheikh Hamdan stated during a tour of an education exhibition that the U.A.E., under the directives of President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Vice President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, is always seeking to extending a helping hand to poor countries to assist them upgrade education sector . He also lauded Sheikh Mohammed's unlimited support for education at local and regional levels. He added that HH had launched many initiatives and awards in education at local, regional and international levels. – Emirates News Agency, WAM – http://www.wam.ae/en/news/emirates/1395270577011.html