OTTAWA, CANADA: A Pakistani-Canadian woman has been recognised as one of the top five educators across Canada by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Ms. Sabrina Rehman, from Little Scholars Montessori in Ottawa, has received the 2017 Prime Minister’s Awards (PMA) for Excellence in Education. Governor General of Canada David Johnston and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also attended the a weeklong event ceremony in Ottawa.
The Prime Minister’s Awards for Excellence in Education honours outstanding and innovative educators for their leadership, exemplary practices, and their commitment to education in Canada.
Award winning engineer turned educator, Ms. Sabrina Rehman pioneers an innovative STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) based program that inspires children to see and explore even the most abstract concepts. The program has students classifying gems and rocks, preserving leaves and racing marbles.
Meet Sabrina Rehman, a #PMAwards winner who brings #Innovation and #STEM into her classroom: https://t.co/V2khllzWgS pic.twitter.com/q1itq7p1jp
— CanadianPM (@CanadianPM) May 20, 2017
Ms. Rehman has supported various child development initiatives. Her ‘I am a Star’ initiative allows each child to build a star-shaped display of their likes, dreams, fears, etc. and displays the stars on a Stars of Fame wall. This knowledge is used to craft individualized activities and learning.
The Makerspace initiative has students design and engineer creations like Rob the recycling robot that cares for the environment. She has also partnered with families and the community to redesign a more nature-filled outdoor playground with pathways, art and slides that are accessible to all children.
Rehman teaches American Sign Language (ASL) from toddler age which offers children with developmental delays a bridge to communication.
She believes that children are the future and should celebrate their uniqueness. She sees the environment as their third teacher and organises it with open-ended materials that her students can explore and use to communicate their ideas.
She is daughter of Squadron Leader (Retd) Mr. Khalid Rehman. She has received appreciation and rave reviews from her parents and colleagues.
“Sabrina empowers children with age-appropriate experiences related to engineering, physics and applied mathematics, but more importantly inspires an attitude that is beneficial for a lifetime: respect for self, respect for each other and respect for the environment,” said her parents.
A colleague said: “Sabrina uses science, technology, engineering and math based experiences to involve community professionals such as local mechanics, biologists, environmental engineers or architects to share unique perspectives and participate in age-appropriate projects with the children.”
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