5 teachers receive President's Award 2012

They are picked from a record 10,600 nominated for their profession's highest recognition
By Chia Yan Min, The Straits Times, 1 Sep 2012

A PHYSICS lesson with teacher Yap Boon Chien may include watching a laser light show or getting a minor zap from a battery.

The 39-year-old from Tanjong Katong Girls' School, along with four other teachers, was lauded yesterday with the highest award in the profession - the President's Award.

The other four are: Madam Anwara Khatun Moklis Khan, 50, of Haig Girls' School; Ms Koh Su Cheng, 36, of Da Qiao Primary School; Madam Irene Tan, 36, from Telok Kurau Primary School; and Mr Gejendran V Krishnan from Geylang Methodist School (Secondary).

Nominated by school leaders, fellow teachers, parents and students, they received the awards at a ceremony and reception at the Istana yesterday, ahead of Teachers' Day today.

More than 10,600 nominations were received this year, a record number since the award's inception in 1998.

The final five were picked by a panel headed by the chairman of the Government Parliamentary Committee for Education, Mr Lim Biow Chuan, and comprising community leaders and officials from the Ministry of Education.

Mr Yap, who holds an engineering degree and has taught for 15 years, has, in that time, amassed 24 boxes of "toys" - teaching aids to make physics come alive for his students. Among them is a metal detector to demonstrate electromagnetism and a data logger for logging sound waves.

He said of his teaching aids: "It works well because it's fun and the students can see its relevance in their everyday lives."

The father of an eight-year-old girl, he had begun his career as a contract teacher, but all it took was six months on the job to convince him that this was what he wanted to do with his life.

He said: "I enjoy my work very much. I find myself growing as a person as I engage with my students. They teach me as much as I teach them."

Madam Anwara, who teaches visual arts at Haig Girls', is herself immersed in the local arts scene, often attending workshops and master classes to improve her own painting techniques.

In 2010, the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts diploma holder launched a programme in her school in collaboration with the National Art Gallery. The programme integrates art with subjects such as English and social studies for Primary 4 pupils.

She shows students not just the techniques of famous artists but also exposes them to art history. The 28-year classroom veteran gets them to role-play post-Impressionist artist Vincent van Gogh, for example, and imitate his painting style.

She said: "Art teaches students multiple perspectives, allowing them to interpret their artwork in different ways, and helps them become creative thinkers."

Ms Koh, a senior teacher who has spent most of her 10 years in the profession focusing on special needs pupils, said: "The challenges they face are vastly different from those faced by mainstream children. I look beyond just imparting knowledge, for teachable moments that allow me to model values such as perseverance and resilience."

Science teacher, Madam Tan, encourages self- directed learning with an inquiry corner in her classroom for her pupils to pose science-related questions to each other, while Mr Gejendran started a community service programme for his school's Normal Academic and Normal Technical stream students to go on service-cum-learning trips to Cambodia and Malacca.