Queen honours winners of 2023 Queen Rania Award for Excellence in Education

AMMAN — Her Majesty Queen Rania handed awards to the winners of the 2022-2023 cycle of the Queen Rania Award for Excellence in Education (QRAEE) on Wednesday, in a ceremony held under Her Majesty’s patronage at the Royal Cultural Palace in Amman.

In her capacity as chairperson of QRAEE’s board of trustees, Her Majesty presented trophies and certificates to the recipients of the 17th edition of the Distinguished Teachers Awards, the fifth edition of the Distinguished School Counsellors Awards and the third edition of the Excellence-Supporting Directorates Awards, in recognition of their exceptional contributions to education in Jordan.

This year, the QRAEE Association received 6,210 applications, of which 5,969 were from teachers and 241 from school counsellors. A total of 18 teachers received the Distinguished Teacher Award, while two counsellors received the Distinguished School Counsellor Award. In addition, 15 teachers and four school counsellors received certificates of appreciation at the national level, while 14 teachers and one school counsellor were recognised at the directorate level, according to a statement from Her Majesty’s office.

The educational directorates of Bani Obaid, Al Qweismeh and Busaira were each granted an Excellence-Supporting Directorates Award for their efforts to spread a culture of excellence and encourage educators to submit applications for the awards. The winning directorates received certificates of appreciation as well as non-monetary incentives from QRAEE in partnership with the Ministry of Education.

Speaking at the event, Minister of Education Azmi Mahafzah highlighted the ministry’s valuable partnership with QRAEE, which aims to promote and deepen the culture of excellence in education and raise society’s appreciation for the teaching profession.

“The Ministry of Education takes pride in several significant accomplishments, such as implementing measures to revitalise the role of winners within their directorates, resulting in a concrete and noticeable impact in the field of education,” Mahafzah said. “Additionally, QRAEE’s databases and reports have served as dependable resources, helping the ministry to establish professional development programmes for teachers and school counsellors”.

The minister went on to explain that efforts are underway to assess and enhance professional development programmes for school principals, as well as review various follow-up tools. “We have also benefited from QRAEE’s expertise in designing a course on educational excellence for new and in-service teachers,” he added.

In her remarks, Executive Director of the QRAEE Association, Lubna Touqan, highlighted the association’s greatest achievements of 2022, including a significant increase in the number of award applicants and schools participating in the “Beeati Al Ajmal”, or “My Improved Environment” project, which aims to empower schools to maintain a clean and healthy educational environment. She also highlighted the engagement that resulted from a series of questionnaires used to gather feedback from the local communities of the award candidates, which yielded over 16,000 questionnaire submissions for the 54 finalists. 

Touqan went on to mention the launch of the QRAEEE’s digital library last year, which provides parents with a valuable resource to support their children’s education. She also announced the launch of QRAEE’s strategic plan through 2026, as well as a new award for distinguished public kindergartens, established in line with the Royal vision’s focus on early childhood education.

Touqan also expressed her gratitude to all supporting parties and working teams, along with Zain Jordan for its role as the official telecom sponsor of the award ceremony.

The ceremony drew nearly 1,800 educators representing every educational directorate, as well as members of the QRAEE Board of Committee, Zain Jordan CEO Fahad Al Jasem, other partners, media figures and supporters from the private and public sectors.

Distinguished educators were honoured with a range of rewards, with first-place winners receiving JD4,000, second-place winners receiving JD3,000, third-place winners receiving JD1,000 and recipients of certificates of appreciation at the national level receiving JD400. Furthermore, each winning Excellence-Supporting Directorate was granted JD3,000 towards the implementation of a plan promoting excellence and creativity in the teaching profession.

The winners are also eligible for non-monetary incentives from QRAEE provided in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, private sector institutions, academic and educational establishments and media organisations. These incentives aim to assist the winners in their professional, academic and educational development.