- Mrs Sesha Bhargavi Devalpally and Mrs Karthika
Ranjithkumar recognised at the Outstanding Community Language Teacher of the
Year Awards 2024
- Event highlights passion, dedication and skill
of community language teachers
- The Cook Labor Government recognised importance
of community languages and community language teaching with an additional $1.230
million provided to the sector
The exceptional
achievements of two Western Australian community languages teachers were celebrated
at the Outstanding Community Languages Teacher of the Year Awards, held at
Hackett Hall, WA Museum - Boola Bardip.
Presented
by Community Languages WA in partnership with the Office of Multicultural
Interests (OMI), the awards recognise excellence in teaching by community
languages teachers in promoting their language and culture.
Mrs Sesha Bhargavi Devalpally from the Western Australia
Telugu Association Telugu Badi was named the Outstanding Community Language
Teacher of the Year in recognition of a community language teacher who has gone
above and beyond in carrying out their role, benefitting their students, the
community languages sector and the wider community.
Mrs
Karthika Ranjithkumar from Avvaiyar Tamil School was the inaugural winner of
the new Emerging Community Language Teacher of the Year Award, which is for a
teacher in the first three years of their career who is achieving excellence in
community language education.
A
record 39 eligible nominations were submitted across the two categories, with the
valuable contribution of all nominated community languages teachers
acknowledged with a Certificate of Merit.
The Community
Languages Program, administered by OMI, supports 53 community language schools
in Western Australia, teaching 34 languages including Amharic, Polish and Korean.
The
majority of these not-for-profit community language schools are run by skilled
volunteers during the evenings and on weekends.
Recently,
the Cook Labor Government increased annual funding to the Community Languages Program
by $1.230 million, bringing the total funding commitment to $2.345 million each
year.
More
information about the Community Languages Program is available on the OMI website.
Comments attributed to Citizenship and Multicultural Interests Minister
Dr Tony Buti:
"I commend the 2024 Outstanding Community Languages Teacher of the
Year, Mrs Sesha Bhargavi Devalpally, and the Emerging Community Language
Teacher of the Year, Mrs Karthika Ranjithkumar, for their well-deserved accolades.
"I also thank all the nominees and community languages teachers for their
important contributions in language teaching and maintenance.
"The introduction of the
Emerging Community Language Teacher of the Year Award this year is a fantastic
opportunity to pay tribute to a new teacher who has all the right ingredients
to continue to have a significant and positive impact as their career grows and
develops.
"The
incredible passion and expertise of our community languages teachers have
benefits that go far beyond the classroom - their dedication helps to ignite a
love of language and is a priceless investment in strengthening their students'
ongoing connection to their cultural heritage.
"The Cook Labor Government
recognises the importance of cultural and linguistic diversity of Western
Australia, which was reflected in the $1.230 million annual boost to the OMI
Community Languages Program to help ensure community languages teaching can
continue to thrive into the future."
