At the World’s Teachers Day ceremony.

The Ministry of Community Development organised a ceremony to celebrate the World Teacher’s Day coinciding Oct 5 each year in the attendance of Hessa Bint Essa Buhumaid, Minister of Community Development, senior leadership, teachers, specialists and administration staff in the people of determination centers. The ceremony comes in appreciation of the efforts and achievements of the people of determination teachers who are working in the centers all over the UAE.

About (254) teachers, specialists and admin staff are working at the (8) People of Determination, Autism & Early Intervention Centers under the Ministry of Community Development distributed all over the UAE. These centers provide educational and rehabilitation services to enhance empowerment and inclusion of the people of determination and encourage the students for work and productivity.

At the ceremony, Hessa Bint Essa Buhumaid announced the Best Teacher Award in all the centres which is applied in this academic year 2019/2020, and unveiled the launch of an annual assessment system to evaluate the performance of the People of Determination Centres. The purpose of the system is to develop the performance of the centers and encourage the teaching and administration staff for more excellence; this is for the benefit and welfare of the students of determination.

Her Excellency stressed that the teaching profession is not merely a job in the lives of people and society, but the basis of families, communities and national progress. The teacher is the foundation of the society, the cornerstone of the nation and inspiration of the younger generations. Her Excellency said: “Societies are associated with teachers, noting the achievements of both administrative and teaching staff at the Centres of People with Determination

reflect the successes and aspirations of our students of determination, who are now, thanks to the support and guidance of the UAE wise leadership and the encouragement of the community, are champions, heroes and optimistic productive members of the community, with a future worthy of their aspirations and the aspirations of our wise leadership”.

Wafa Hamad Bin Sulaiman, Director of Welfare & Rehabilitation Department for People of Determination at the Ministry of Community Development, then delivered a detailed presentation about the Best Teacher Award and the evaluation performance system at the Centers for the People with Determination. The presentation included a definition of the new system, objectives, goals, evaluation tools, evaluation mechanisms and plans according to international standards. She said: “The evaluation process will be assessed by external evaluators (70%) and parents (30%); those centers that achieved excellence quality standards will be awarded a gold star, while the centers that achieved quality standards will be awarded a silver star. The annual evaluation is based on (21) themes, in addition to (96) criteria; the number of indicators monitored by the annual assessment of the centers of people with determination is (453)”.

The honoring ceremony was attended by teachers, students and parents and included a video display of all the teachers’ accomplishments as well as their educational and rehabilitation support role to the students of determination. The Ministry’s team who was involved in the Government

Accelerators 2019 was honored in recognition of their active and supportive participation in the campaign “Happier in UAE”, their pivotal role in enriching the awareness content and training courses for the empowerment of people of determination and their parents against abuse; the campaign is shared by several government institutes to enhance the protection of people with determination from abuse, and spread positive culture when dealing with these categories.

The ceremony also included prize draw and group photos with Hessa Buhumaid, Minister of Community Development. On this occasion, the teachers of the centers of determination expressed their appreciation to the efforts of the ministry and its role in ensuring the future of the students of determination.