As a support teacher in the mainstream Ahmad Ibrahim Secondary, the 59-year-old takes the school's 16 visually impaired students under her wing and helps them with their school work.

The 16, previously from special education schools, would otherwise have found joining a Secondary 1 class of 40 sighted students a daunting experience.

Her presence must have been comforting to them, for she was given a Caring Teacher Award yesterday, one of three handed out this year.

Teachers, principals, parents and students submitted, in all, 2,000 nominations for teachers from 158 schools.

The other winners of the biennial awards, co-organised by the National Institute of Education and ExxonMobil Asia Pacific, are Ms Halimatussa'diah Jaffar, 26, and Mr Michael Kwok, 36.

Ms Halimatussa'diah of Junyuan Primary, for example, spends some of her free time helping a former student - now in another class - improve his reading.

Mr Kwok, who heads the physical education department at Pioneer Junior College, is a mentor to his student athletes; he also supervises their study sessions.

He said: 'Our job doesn't start and end in the classroom. It goes beyond that. With both parents working, students often have no one to turn to. They look up to teachers as people they can trust and confide in.'

The trio each received a plaque and $3,000. Their schools also received plaques and cash awards of $1,500 each.

Eleven other teachers who received commendations were awarded a plaque and a cash prize of $300 each.

This article was first published in The Straits Times on Sept 6, 2008.

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