The President's Cultural Foundation announced the winners of its Educational Award 2009 on Oct. 7. The Educational Award is intended for people at all teaching levels, those who have achieved remarkable results in the sphere of education in Estonia as a teacher, as a university lecturer, a head or an employee of an educational institution, an author of textbooks and didactical materials, a person who has initiated and implemented practical educational innovations or an official who has taken part in developing education policy. The Educational Award 2009 winners are Urmas Kokassaar, who is a biology didactics lecturer at the Science Education Center of the Faculty of Science and Technology of the University of Tartu, Terje Varul, a teacher of Estonian language and literature at Kolga Secondary School, and Heli Adamovich, the director of Paikene kindergarten in Narva. President Toomas Hendrik Ilves will present the awards on Oct. 12 in the Office of the President. The amount to be awarded to Kokassaar is 75,000 kroons (4,800 euros), Varul will receive 55,000 kroons and Adamovich 45,000 kroons.
The President's Academic Advisory Board and the Center for Ethics of the University of Tartu on Oct. 9 held the President's "Chautauqua," focusing this year on trust and responsibility in politics, economics and society. Around 150 opinion leaders jointly and separately sought answers to the core questions about Estonia's future, and exchanged their thoughts about the lessons learned from the economic recession. The "Chautauqua" began with an opening speech by the President of Estonia and culminated in a two-hour discussion of the chairmen of the parties represented in Riigikogu. The discussion on economics was chaired by Marten Ross, Deputy Governor of Bank of Estonia, and the members of the panel included Toomas Luman, Chairman of the Board of the Estonian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and banker Indrek Neivelt. The discussion on society and politics was chaired by Professor Margit Sutrop, Head of the Center for Ethics of the University of Tartu.
