Success
Lado Apkhazava, a civics teacher from the village Chibati in Guria region of Georgia, received the National Teacher Award. Award ceremony took place in the capital Tbilisi on October 5, World Teachers’ Day.
Overview
Lado Apkhazava, a civics teacher from the village Chibati in Guria region of Georgia, received the National Teacher Award. Award ceremony took place in the capital Tbilisi on October 5, World Teachers’ Day.
National teacher award competition held in Georgia is part of the global campaign which aims to promote teaching and recognize efforts of the teachers globally. Georgia joined campaign in 2017. National Teacher Award competition was organized for the first time in Georgia, by the Coalition “Education for All” in partnership with the Teachers Professional Development Center and with support of the Ministry of Education and Science of Georgia. Lado Apkhazava, a civics teacher and an owner of the National Teacher Award will take part in the global teacher award competition, which will take place in Dubai in 2018.
Lado credits USAID-funded civic education programs for his success: “The name of my victory is the Applied Civic Education and Teacher Training Program (ACETT). ACETT was a great professional development opportunity. I was able to carry out mini-grant project, funded by ACETT, together with my students. We learned how to identify a problem, how to mobilize supporters and advocate for the solution of the problem in front of the local Government. My participation in professional development opportunities, such as open lessons, civics teachers’ roundtables, professional learning community meetings, teacher trainings, the use of ACETT’s supplemental textbooks – all were helpful in my professional growth. Equipment, donated by ACETT helped us to start a page in social network and share our work with others; Our activities exceeded the school boundaries, students started their efforts for the benefit of the community and broader municipality. Through these activities students learned, that not only individual, but community problems are highly important as well. By taking care of the community problems, civic awareness of students is increased. This is critically important for the democratic development of Georgia.”
Currently Lado is the Head of the Guria Regional Council of the Civic Education Teachers’ Forum (CETF), a professional teachers’ association, which was created in the framework of ACETT and further developed with support of the USAID funded Momavlis Taoba (Future Generation) civic education program in Georgia. This professional organization now unites over 1,000 civics teachers from all regions of Georgia. As a Head of the Regional Council, Lado works with civics teachers in the region to share the best practices and provide them with professional development opportunities. Lado decided to donate part of the award amount to Civic Education Teachers’ Forum, to recognize efforts of other civics teachers in Georgia for their outstanding results in civic education, as a means of improving democracy in Georgia.
Georgia | 
