Queen Rania launches third round of Award for Distinguished Teachers in Deir Abi S'eed Comprehensive Secondary School for Girls

In affirmation of Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah's direct support for teachers in general and the Queen Rania Award for Distinguished Teachers, aimed at urging them to excel at what they do, Her Majesty visited the Deir Abi S'eed Comprehensive Secondary School for Girls in the Koura District, on Wednesday, to launch the third round of the Award. 
The Deir Abi S'eed Comprehensive Secondary School for Girls is considered a model school in the region and a beacon for dialogue, freedom of expression and constructive interaction.  In addition, the school is host to the highest number of Award finalists for two years, with five teachers making it to the finals.
Queen Rania's visit was part of her follow-up on the application phase. Her visit also served to support teachers who are completing their nomination applications nationwide. 
Queen Rania was received by Education Director for the Koura District, Tawfiq Khasawneh; the Director of the Queen Rania Award for Excellence in Education, Lubna Touqan; the former School Principal and current Administrative Director at the Koura Directorate, Amneh Shraydeh; and the School's Principal, Etimad Shraydeh.
During her visit, Queen Rania spoke to two Award-winning teachers, a teacher who nominated herself in two consecutive years and was a finalist on both occasions and a teacher who was nominated to the final stage last year.  She commended them on their achievements, noting the pivotal role they play in shaping the future of young generations. 
Queen Rania also noted that the school was able to capitalize on its potential, namely its human resources, to build the knowledge of students and help them release their creativity and harness it to the benefit of their community.  She also commended the efforts of the Education Director of the Koura District, Tawfiq Khasawneh, and the achievements of the Education Directorate, which succeeded in securing a great number of nominations and finalists in the past two rounds.
Her Majesty also highlighted the role the Queen Rania Award for Excellence in Education has played in enabling the teachers to become the main agents of change and students the main focus of the educational process, thereby changing teachers' attitudes towards self-development and towards their students and communities.
For her part, Award Director, Lubna Touqan, discussed the latest developments and the progress in the application process, presenting examples of distinguished teachers from the school. Touqan also reiterated that the idea behind the Award was to acknowledge, honor and motivate such excellent teachers and shed light on the pivotal role they play in education. 
With 86 teachers and 900 students, the Deir Abi S'eed Comprehensive Secondary School is committed to being an active member in the local community through a number of programs initiated by teachers and students themselves.  In addition, extracurricular activities are designed in a way that benefits the entire local community, whereby the school takes the lead in informing other schools in the area of the principles, achievements and stages of the Award through the Award winners and nominees in the past years.
Principal Etimad Shraydeh highlighted the special relationship between teachers and students and their cooperation in planning and implementing creative extracurricular activities that reflect positively on the community as a whole.  She added that the school fosters a spirit of healthy competition and excellence in accordance with the Award's vision and indicated that the administration urges teachers to exert ongoing efforts to develop interactive teaching methods to encourage students to learn and improve their performance, noting that 70% of the school's students pass their Tawjihi exams.
During her visit, Queen Rania also toured the vocational educational hall and listened to a presentation on the school's activities aimed at developing the local community by training housewives on making yoghurt. Stopping by the sewing hall, Queen Rania listened to a presentation on the used-clothes recycling program, which benefits students and the local community and encourages students to design their own small projects.
At the school library, the Queen listened to summaries of students' projects, most notably the environmental project designed by a student who invented a machine that removes humidity from atmospheric air in a contained space.  The invention improves the performance of air conditioning systems by removing humidity from the air coming through them.  While in the library, Queen Rania was also briefed on the school’s cultural exchange program with students in European and American schools. 
Prior to her departure, Her Majesty joined a class of ninth-graders and expressed her admiration of the students' enthusiasm and motivation for learning. During the lesson, Queen Rania also listened to the perceptions of two students on what constitutes excellence in teachers.