A sense of fulfilment

With more than three decades of ‘moulding the nation’, retired teacher Malcolm Clarke-Maynard looks back at a career he has never regretted

A sense of fulfilment is what retired teacher Malcolm Clarke-Maynard enjoys, knowing he has played an essential role in educating students, including some of Guyana’s notable individuals.
Clarke-Maynard was born in Georgetown on Nov. 9, 1940. After a normal school life, he completed his high school education and passed the Cambridge examinations to begin, at 18-years-old, his long career of teaching.

“My mother wanted me to teach. I started to teach in 1958 and resigned in 1993. I taught at Trinity Methodist, where I wrote my school leaving exams. I then taught at Kingston Methodist School, which later became Kingston Government School, and while teaching there I attended the Teachers’ Training College. I taught at Charlestown Secondary, Central High School, and Anna Regina Multilateral. I taught both primary and secondary levels. I took some time off to care for my mother when she became ill. I went back into teaching when she died,” he revealed to Guyana Times International.
He recalled that his biggest challenge while teaching was undisciplined students.  “On one occasion a student slammed me in my head with a table tennis racket and I defended myself by punching him,” he reminisced.  “But later, me and the same student became friends,” he added, laughing.
However, 20 years after he retired, and looking back at his career, he’s happy he fulfilled the teachers’ motto “to mould the nation”.
He also recalled some of the notable public figures who have passed through his hands, including former labour minister Mansoor Nadir; Michael Mohan, now president of STARR computers, and Winston Felix, former police commissioner.
Clarke-Maynard stated that he was privileged to have received a one-year scholarship in 1970 to study corporate management in Germany. He also completed studies here in counselling with an American expert in the areas of guidance and counselling. The retired educator encourages all teachers to get trained in these areas, as it helped him with class control and with his students.
He disclosed that he was never married and doesn’t have any children. He has dedicated his life to the many children he taught, educating them to be noteworthy individuals in society.
Now at age 72, he is currently living at St Thomas More Men’s Homestead and outlines his daily routine there, illustrating his fiercely independent streak, “My day starts very early in the morning. I do my own chores and shopping. I attend public lectures or visit the national library where I do a lot of reading. I also visit friends, and enjoy going to church.”
When asked if he would teach again if he was given the chance, Clarke-Maynard pointed out that although he loves teaching, he would choose the medical field now because he thinks it would be more challenging and he would get the chance to help others.
The retired tutor is also a staunch advocate for senior citizens in Guyana and would regularly write letters, some of them published, to various local newspapers on senior citizens’ welfare. He hopes, via his letters, that the necessary institutions would be moved to do more for his fellow senior citizens.
“Government and NGOs should formulate a national plan for the aged population, especially the most vulnerable so that more can be done for us senior citizens. Our private sector and corporate entities may collaborate, but there’s much more that can be done for senior citizens in Guyana so that they can live better lives,” he insists.