Her Majesty Queen Rania on Tuesday honoured the winners of the 2016 Queen Rania Award for Excellence in Education at a special ceremony, presenting prizes and certificates to the deserving teachers and school counsellors, urging them to lead the change in the field.

Calling on all education professionals to exert collective effort to strengthen the country’s learning landscape, Her Majesty highlighted the critical role teachers play in the development of education and in shaping the future of the country.

“Development requires substituting methods of the past with those compatible with the needs of the future,” said the Queen, making clear the need to revamp education and, more importantly, the need for teachers and all those involved in the education process in the country to be prepared to face the rapidly changing world.

Calling on teachers to lead an “educational renaissance”, the Queen stressed that progress in education involves training teachers before and during their employment.

Training, then, is crucial for teachers, whose “light” has the power to break through many challenges, said Queen Rania, stressing that “those with us today have been able to devise solutions out of sheer need and despite great challenges. They have proved that there is still room in those packed classrooms for innovative solutions and creative ideas”.

Teachers, added the Queen, are the “heroes of their country”.