Education Good Practice winners announced

24 June 2015
News

The Riverside Education Foundation in India has won first prize in the 2015 Commonwealth Education Good Practice Awards

The Riverside Education Foundation in India has won first prize in the 2015 Commonwealth Education Good Practice Awards for a curriculum that empowers children to identify challenges and to take action to bring about change.

The Award, now in its fourth iteration, was presented on Tuesday at the opening ceremony of the 19th Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers.

The project Design For Change, which was started at an Ahmedabad school in 2009, is now a global movement reaching more than 300,000 children in 35 countries. All Design For Change material is available online for free.

Deodat Maharaj Deputy Secretary-General said: “These Commonwealth Awards are intended to serve as a mechanism to enhance teaching and learning throughout the Commonwealth. It goes beyond simply acknowledging the recipients’ good practices and aims to draw attention to educational barriers and issues, and effective solutions to addressing them. Importantly, they demonstrate the power of the Commonwealth as a platform for exchange and indeed demonstrate yet another way in how we add global value.”

A South African submission, Taking Quality Education to where it matters through Webcasting secured second place and was presented by the Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma. The project focuses on raising the quality of education through teacher development and learner support. It is a collaboration between the Free State Department of Education and ICT Innovation in School Education. Lessons by expert teachers are broadcast live via satellite to schools across the Province allowing for live learner and teacher interaction.

Design for Change