The best educators of Serbia are contending for the prestigious world award the Yidan Prize amounting to 3.9 million dollars
Dr Charles Chen Yidan, one of the most famous Chinese Internet entrepreneurs and philantropists, established the Yidan Prize which amounts to 3.9 million dollars. The award is presented to the individuals for their exceptional achievements in research and development in education. The prize recognizes and supports the teachers all around the world, whose innovations have sustainable influence on the education system of today and future.
The Association "Zivojin Mišić" has been a partner of the Yidan Fondacije since last year, which means that the project of the Association “The Best Educators of Serbia” has become a prequalification for the Yidan Prize, and this year's candidates for that award are Danijela Rakić and Goran Jovišić!
Danijela and Goran, who have been chosen as the Best Educators of Serbia, are the first Serbian teachers – the candidates for this prestigious award for the research on the development in the field of education.
For what do Danijela Rakić and Goran Jovišić stand out?
Danijela Rakić
Danijela Rakić is a teacher of accordion and chamber music in Music School “Kosta Manojlović“ in Zemun.
She is one of the best educators of Serbia who received this acknowledgement in 2017.
Having worked for more than two decades as a teacher, as her colleagues say, she is still an example of an educator who exhudes her enthusiasm and motivation in her everyday work with students. Teacher danijela, with her students, has received over 280 awards in 30 countries in the world! Her colleagues say that a large number of her awards is a consequence of her sincere, everyday dedication and research and following music in the world, through the work in international juries, her engagement in seminars, competitions and congresses. Striving to connect Serbia with the world in her profession (which is seen through prestigious world awards) is what separates teacher danijela from others.
As a teacher of a chamber subject and accordion, Danijela manages to involve parents through both concerts and other plans and conversations, aiming at parents' constant monitoring of the development of their children.
Danijela is a pedagogical counsellor and teacher mentor, she holds experimental lessons for teachers beginners. She is said to always point at the different use of various methods of teaching and the ways of generating the motivation of students. She has been head of Belgrade's section of accordionists for 10 years and manager of regional accordion sections, member of the world confederation of accordionists (in France), member of the association “Muzičko sazvežđe“ and, also, a member of the professional committee “Olympic Games“ (in Slovenia). She is a member of several more professional societies operating in Serbia and regional countries.
Some of the achievements are: the award Zajednice muzičke škole, Belgrade (2015), plaque UMPS Vivače, Lazarevac (2015), acknowledgement by MA, Istočno Sarajevo (2010-2015), annual award of Music School “K. Manojlović“ (2005-2009, 2015), award BGIKU, Russia...
Her motto is “Only by adequate approach love and interest in music can be developed“.
For the Yidan Prize she has applied with the theme “The Systems of Lifelong Learning“ and her research deals with the systems of lifelong learning, literacy for all, teachers and skills for the work and life in a modern age.
Goran Jovišić
Goran Jovišić is a teacher of computer science and informatics in Grammar School of Sremski Karlovci, in Sremski Karlovci.
He is one of the Best Educators of Serbia who received this acknowledgement in 2015.
He is one of the founders and head of the Association of the Teachers of Informatics in Serbia. His colleages say that he stands out because of his unselfish and dedicated work, being an excellent organizer and the initiator of innovative and creative ideas, use of new technologies and software in teaching.
His students take part in various competitions and projects and win first places. One of these is “Zagrizi budućnost“, the competition in the field of graphic design, international mathematics conference “Karlovački uzori“, the project of the instruction of knowledge and skills, necessary for modern entrepreneurship and many others.
He is a participant and the initiator of various activities at school: lectures on digital violence “The Role of School in the Prevention and Stopping Digital Violence“, “May, the Month of Mathematics“, “The Day of Number PI“ in Grammar School of Sremski Karlovci“, “The Use of Digital Software in Inclusive Teaching“, the state competition “The Website for the Safe Internet“... He is the organizer of the international week of programming “Code Week“ in his school.
By the use of innovative methods in teaching, he makes it possible for students to work independently, to solve problems on their own, at their own pace and learn in this way. He uses the correlation of various subjects, so students digitalized the books in German in the field of informatics and the German language, which they translated later, and they made a dictionary of IT terms.
He is an author and fellow worker in numerous publications and research, he is a participant of a great deal of seminars, national and international conferences. He is a member of several national and foreign professional organizations: “CSTA – Computer Science Teacher Association“ (New York, USA), “Internet Society IOC“ (Geneva, Switzerland), “ACM – Association for Computer Machinery for K-12 Computer Science Education“ (New York, USA), “European Mathematical Society“ (Helsinki, Finland).
He has applied for the Yidan Prize with the theme “The Use of Free Software in Educational Institutions in Serbia“ and his research deals, among other things, with teachers, education for sustainable development and ICT in education.
The results of the Yidan Prize competition will be known in September this year and, until then, we will support the candidates representing Serbia in this world competition, Danijela Rakić and Goran Jovišić!
You can see who are last year's winners and find more information about the competition, here.