The Ministry of Education on October 3 handed over prizes to the winners of the national contest “Pedagogue of the Year 2014” within a festivity held to mark the Professional Education Worker’s Day. The contest had three nominations. Each of the winners received money awards of 50,000 lei and a diploma of honor. The winners were also conferred a higher teaching rank coming after the held one, IPN reports.

According to the decision of the contest commission, Maria Lescu, educator at Kindergarten No. 17 in Soroca, became Educator of the Year. Virgia Vangheli, of the Chisinau Theoretical Lyceum “Stefan cel Mare”, received the title of Teacher of the Year, while Ina Dumitras, Romanian language and literature teacher at the Balti Theoretical Lyceum “Mihai Eminescu”, was named Professor of the Year. Another eight laureates of the contest were offered diplomas of honor and by a set of books.

In the opening of the ceremony, Minister of Education Maia Sandu said that the Ministry of Education, together with the teachers, set the goal of educating young people who would be competitive at home and anywhere in the world and who would do well now and in ten years too. “This desideratum requires not only teaching subjects and making sure that the students understand. We must also cultivate moral and spiritual values and appreciate them. All the children are different, but it is very important to contribute to the growth and development of everyone,” stated the minister.

Prime Minister Iurie Leanca came to the event to congratulate the teachers. “The gestures, attitude and words of the pedagogues today shape the personality of the people of tomorrow as the development of a human being cannot be conceived without the teachers’ devotion. Any bright career, any accomplished personality and any social achievement has its origins in the work done by the teachers,” he stated.

In Moldova, there are about 42,000 teachers.