Wow, this is amazing news! One of our very own Malaysian teachers has just made the country proud after being declared the winner of the prestigious International Innovation and Entrepreneurship Excellence in Teaching Award 2017 that was held in Paris recently.
Mohd Sirhajwan Idek, who teaches English managed to bag the award and beat nine other international finalists from the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia, Germany, Canada, Denmark and Colombia. Great job, cikgu!
According to NST, the 29-year-old teacher had already bagged three other distinguished international awards, the Macmillan Teachers at My Heart in 2016, Express Publishing IATEFL Scholarship in 2017 and the National Techer Icon Award this year so this win added another feather in his cap.
Originating from Sabah, Idek was super excited about his win and told NST about the importance of winning this award, “This is a very precious award for my country because it shows that our system of education is on par with that of other developed countries and we are being recognised at the international level.”
Accepting his award in the award ceremony at the Novancia Business School in Paris on Friday, the young man who is from Keningau Vocational College is also the only Asian teacher. The other contestants are lecturers. #MalaysiaRepresent
The young teacher also described his winning entry and said, “I submitted my case history, using the concept of Project-Based Learning for students to develop and execute their project ideas that enables them to venture into innovation and entrepreneurship. I successfully made it to the first round, second round and Top 10 finalists and finally, the Top 3 before being declared the winner.”
He added, “I feel so thrilled since this is an international competition. It shows that no matter where you come from, or who you are, nothing can stop you from realising your dreams and conquering the world.”
In addition, this bright teacher is also one of the Top 50 finalists for the Global Teacher Prize 2017.
Congratulations on the win, Cikgu Mohd Sirhajwan Idek and for making our country proud again!