By Dipo Olowookere
As the panel of judges for the 2016 Maltina Teacher of the Year (MTOTY) firms up assessment of the entries, the finalists for the coveted prize will emerge on Thursday, September 29, 2016.
The finalists will be chosen from the 33 candidates that will emerge as champions of their respective states to face the jury for a final interview. The 10 best entries will thereafter be invited for the grand finale where the panel will further subject the 10 finalists to rigorous scrutiny in order to determine who truly should be named the MTOTY winner.
The winner and the 2016 MTOTY will be finally unveiled at a grand ceremony on Thursday, October 20, 2016, in Lagos.
As the deadline for the submission of entries closed on Friday, July 22, the panel of Judges met in Lagos on August 30 to deliberate on the assessment scheme for the initiative.
The jury made up of distinguished professionals after their meeting agreed on the core assessment parameters
The Corporate Affairs Adviser of Nigerian Breweries Plc., Mr Kufre Ekanem, explained that the project received hundreds of entries from across the states of the federation.
However, the entries were shortlisted and validated to compete for the initiative’s coveted prize by the stringent project assessors who trimmed the entries down after a thorough and painstaking examination.
After scaling the project assessors’ hurdles, Mr Ekanem informed that the valid entries would be subjected to further scrutiny and thorough assessment process by the Panel of Judges, charged with determining who emerges MTOTY.
Like last year, the winner will get one million naira instantly, plus one million naira every year for the next five years. The package also includes a development training opportunity abroad and a block of classrooms to be built at the school where he/she teaches.
“It is our hope that through the MTOTY initiative, we can inspire this nation to accord our teachers their deserved credit and bring back respect to the teaching profession in Nigeria,” Mr Ekanem averred.
The MTOTY initiative with prizes worth N50 million annually, is done on the platform of NB/Felix Ohiwerei Education Trust Fund.
Mr Ohiwerei is a former Chairman and CEO of the leading beverage conglomerate which has been operating in Nigeria since 1946. The Trust Fund was established in 1994 to contribute to the development of educational sector in the country.
Over the years, the company has used the fund to assist over 20,000 students, built over 250 classrooms and 22 libraries in both primary and secondary schools across 49 communities in the country.
Modupe Gbadeyanka