By Our Reporter
BIC, a world leader in Stationery, Lighters, and Shavers, has announced the winners of its ‘BIC Cristal Pen Awards 2020’.
In effort to recognize and honor the valuable contributions of teachers during these unprecedented times, BIC introduced the first edition of its BIC Cristal Pen Awards. Launched in conjunction with the company’s Global Education Week initiative, the award aims to celebrate exceptional educators around the world who inspire and bring joy to children every day while equipping them towards a more empowered future.
Ronald Ddungu from the Gayaza High School was selected as the winner from Uganda for his exceptional contribution towards his students and for being a beacon of hope and optimism in an academically exigent year.
Building on his years of experience, Mr. Ddungu has helped transform his school’s curriculum to integrate agriculture entrepreneurship and train his fellow educators on teaching practical agriculture methods through their various subjects; mathematics, English, Science and others.
He also started the FARM CAMP, an annual event that brings students and teachers together to improve their agricultural enterprise skills and connect them with farmers and experts to learn more about business. This event engages teachers from different subjects to help them design lesson plans that make use of the farm units and all the related activities.
The nominations of the educators came from BIC employees from around the group and the winners included 10 winners from the US, Australia, India, Uganda, Ethiopia, Brazil, Greece and Turkey.
The BIC Cristal Awards prize includes a grant of 5,000 EUR and a BIC Stationery product donation towards his school in addition to a custom-designed trophy from Tiffany’s &Co.
Commenting on the new award, Michael Sinclair, General Manager, BIC East Africa said, “For educators, the pandemic has been both an adaptive and transformative experience which had no organized playbook. This award is a recognition of their adaptability in the face of the unforeseen education challenge and protecting their student’s learning opportunities. We would like to congratulate Mr. Ddungu for his exceptional contribution towards his school and his students and hope this grant can help him along in his mission towards improving more young lives.”
BIC has long been an advocate for improving lives through education and is committed to enhance the learning conditions for 250 million children globally by 2025. The Group aims to help children succeed in their education by providing improved learning conditions and in-school infrastructure.