By Patrick Onuoha
The panel of judges for the 2016 edition of the Maltina Teacher of the Year (MTOTY) has confirmed that the finalists for the coveted prize will emerge on Thursday, September 29th, 2016.
The finalists, who will be chosen from the 33 candidates that will emerge as champions of their respective states have 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 Maltina Teacher of the Year.
The winner and the 2016 Maltina Teacher of the Year, MTOTY will be finally unveiled at a grand ceremony on Thursday, October 20th, 2016, in Lagos.
As the deadline for the submission of entries closed on Friday, 22nd July, the panel of Judges met in Lagos on August 30th to deliberate on the assessment scheme for the initiative.
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, 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 the Maltina Teacher of the Year.
Like last year, the Maltina Teacher of the Year 2016 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 Maltina Teacher of the Year initiative, we can inspire this nation to accord our teachers their deserved credit and bring back respect to the teaching profession in Nigeria,” Ekanem averred
The MTOTY initiative with prizes worth N50 million annually, is done on the platform of NB/Felix Ohiwerei Education Trust Fund. 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.