2022 Teachers Competition Ends

(This article was first published in the New Vision on October 19, 2022)

By Carol Kasujja Adii

The 2022 edition of the Teachers Making a Difference ended on October 12 with the publication of the last two profiles of teachers nominated for the competition this year.

The Teachers Making a Difference competition, which is part of Vision Group’s broader Ugandans Making a Difference project, has been running since 2008. It celebrates teachers in public primary and secondary schools, who positively impact the lives of their learners and communities.

This year, over 160 teachers were nominated to enter the competition by readers countrywide. As is the case each year, 60 outstanding nominees were profiled by Mwalimu.

Each week, two profiles – a male and female teacher – from different regions of the country were published for the competition which ran from March to October.

Vision Group Editor-in-Chief Barbara Kaija said teachers are important people in society and that their positive contributions to the lives of the learners and communities make a difference.

This year, the innovative ways the teachers deployed to keep the children learning during the COVID-19 pandemic formed a key part of the selection criteria.

Nominees were also expected to show how they mobilised communities and children to keep in school, how they innovatively use limited resources to deliver quality education, how they promote vocational and life skills education and actively participate in co-curricular activities.

The nominees were supposed to be teachers with impeccable integrity, who go beyond the call of duty to deliver education.

The competition is judged by a panel of five eminent Ugandans, who have now started marking the teachers independently.

The competition is organized by New Vision in partnership with the Irish Embassy in Uganda and Simba Travelcare, one of Uganda’s leading tour and travel management companies. Pascal Kwesiga, the Vision Group education editor, said the judges will meet to announce the winners before the end of the year.

“The 12 most innovative teachers will share a cash prize of sh18m, while the six most outstanding will go for an all-expenses-paid professional development study trip to Ireland next year. The schools that produce the 12 winners will also receive prizes based on their needs,” Kwesiga said.