Innovative Lankan teachers return with bags of ideas

The ‘Fourth Regional Innovative Teachers Conference’ held in Vietnam in April has recognized the creative and innovative work of more than 150 teachers and 100 senior government and education officials, from at least 22 countries around the world. This time too, three Sri Lankan teachers T. Nimalan, S.D. Tennakoon and Ms. Vajirani Samarakoon who won three different categories at the National Competition held in February this year, got the opportunity to attend and share in this experience of a lifetime.

Organised by Microsoft in partnership with UNESCO, this global conference acknowledges the often challenging work conducted by teachers who strive towards taking education to a higher level, via the use of ICT, and to inspire other educators to follow suit, the global IT company said.

The ‘Innovative Teachers Programme’ has two primary offerings for educators – the ‘Innovative Teachers Forums’ and the ‘Innovative Teachers Network.’ The Forums are Annual events that recognize and reward innovative teachers who practice the elements of 21st century learning in their classrooms and then incorporate these skills into the student learning environment. Whereas, the Network is a worldwide network of portals, local in their implementation, but global in their reach and scope that allow educators to share successful methodology and protocols from their own learning and practice.

Each teacher had to prepare a poster presentation showcasing their winning projects and present them to a panel of judges essentially comprising senior government officials from across the globe. Anura Dissanayake, Project Director, Secondary Education Modernization Project II (SEMP II) of the Ministry of Education in Sri Lanka, was also on the panel of judges. A country winner too was adjudged through this process and T. Nimalan, from the Nilaweli Maha Vidyalaya, Trincomalee was presented with the Sri Lanka Country Prize for the ‘Most Innovative Teacher’ at the event.

Ms. Vajirani Samarakoon, from the Wattegama Central College, Wattegama, who was the winner of the National Competition this year said, “This conference encouraged me to further develop and fine tune my innovative skills, as it gave me the opportunity to engage in a range of varied teaching related activities and I was able to interact with teachers from different countries and share their experiences.”

T. Nimalan from the Nilaweli Maha Vidyalaya Central College, Trincomalee said, “Having won second place at the national competition and the Country Prize for the ‘Most Innovative Teacher’ at the Regional Conference held in Vietnam last month, I was able to share my experiences with more than 150 teachers from across 22 countries.”

“Being adjudged Second runner-up at the national competition, I gained both a wealth of knowledge and experience via this programme, for instance, exposure to different teaching methods, how best to create attractive and effective lesson plans, numerous teaching aids, and knowledge sharing,” said S.D. Tennakoon from Siri Mihindu MV, Radawadunna.