Lascelles Chin, chairman and chief executive officer of the Lasco Group, presents Patricia Bigby of Balaclava High School in St. Elizabeth with the Teacher of the Year trophy on Monday, at a function at the Hilton Kingston Hotel, New Kingston. - RICARDO MAKYN/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
PATRICIA BIGBY, a teacher at Balaclava High School in St. Elizabeth, on Monday emerged winner of the 2005/2006 Lasco/Ministry of Education Teacher of the Year award.
Ms. Bigby was among seven finalists who were awarded for their sterling contribution to education.
A stunned Ms. Bigby was presented with a trophy and cash prize amounting to $120,000.
"It is with humble elation that I express profound gratitude and appreciation on behalf of my fellow awardees and myself," an elated Ms. Bigby said.
She was speaking at the Lasco/Ministry of Education Teacher of the Year awards ceremony at the Hilton Kingston Hotel, New Kingston.
OTHER AWARDS INSTITUTED
The Lasco Teacher of the Year awards began in 1997, and Lasco has since instituted the Nurse, Police and the Pharmacist of the Year programmes.
"It is quite fitting that the Teacher of the Year awards was the first in the series of awards competitions because it is now a national consensus that if we do not get education right in Jamaica, we will not be able to get anything right," said Lascelles Chin, chairman of Lasco Group.
"We should feel a sense of disgust and heavy-heartedness that our schools have become battlefields for our students and teachers, who struggle against attackers, (and) robbers ..." he added.
He urged the communities to protect and respect the teachers and schools.
Guest speaker, professor of government and politics at the University of the West Indies, Trevor Munroe, said the fact that countries across the world recruit Jamaican teachers is an indication that they are among the best in the world.
Two new awards were included this year: the Mentor of the Year, which went to Yvonne Miller-Wisdom of Success Primary School in Hanover; and the Beginning Teacher of the Year award, which went to Anthony Murray of the same school.
