‘Accolades to Berbice High School’ by Dr Tulsi Dyal Singh

BY PETAMBER PERSAUD

A school is not four walls; an outstanding school is not made up of four walls only. A good school is made up of people and stories: Of the people, some which can be placed in broad categories: good, bad or indifferent. Of the stories, some which may be good, bad or shocking. This seems to be the main but not the only approach taken by Dr Tulsi Dyal Singh in his book, “Accolades to Berbice High School on its Centenary Anniversary”, prepared especially to mark the centenary of that institution during September 2016.
The book is a tribute to the school over that hundred-year span, told from the position of the author’s years spent at the school as a student (1960 – 1967); teacher, active alumnus (1993 – 2001); member of alumni association (2001 – 2016), and benefactor.
Of course, Dr Singh puts all of the above in context by giving a background of the institution in its varied manifestations – from birth to its growing pains to its clashes with religious and political directives; its highs and lows. So we would find this up-to-date story of the school educational, entertaining and inspiring.
Berbice High School was founded in September 1916 by the Canadian Presbyterian Mission, which was the evangelical arm of the Presbyterian Council Mission of Canada. According to the book, there were many challenges even from the outset: “Money was always in short supply…recruiting teaching staff in Canada for British Guiana must have been difficult, even if money was not a problem. Then there were the wars. World War One …1916 to 1919…and World War Two 1939 to 1945…on top of that was the high rate of serious illnesses that the appointees incurred once they were on location in British Guiana.”
“Accolades to Berbice High School” pays tribute mainly the outstanding head teachers, teachers and students, by, in many instances, sharing detail biographies of those individuals. One of the outstanding heads of the school during the writer’s season was Basil Beharry,and pages of text and images are devoted to the teacher’s support to the author and contribution to the school and education on the whole.
An excellent feature of the book is that the biographies of many of the residents are completed up to the time of writing, allowing you to trace the journeys, sometimes concurrent, sometimes concurrent then diverging, of students and teachers from a little known place to the top of their game or to top postings around the world.
Dr Singh has written about “more than a hundred, and mentioned two hundred alumni of Berbice High School…that’s only a fraction of the thousands of exceptional and highly educated people that our alma mater has sent out into the world.”
‘Accolades’ is designed in a way that lends itself to easy reading and easy referencing, all of which underline its importance to the unfolding story of education in this country and the unfolding history of Guyana.
What’s more important is the tribute paid to the unsung heroes in education and the role they played in moulding and preparing receptive minds and willing bodies in service to their homeland, the region and the wider world community.
The author is somewhat a modest man who is justly proud of his contribution. But most of all, Dr Singh is proud of his writing prowess which started way back when he was at Berbice High School. Writing for Dr Singh comes easily as he was well read and well respected for his essay writing, some of which won local prizes and regional recognition. Further, his love for reading and writing manifested itself when he resuscitated a literary magazine that is celebrating its centenary, giving Dr Singh double satisfaction in the area of literacy.
Each one of us will claim that our season, our school, to be the best but in this book, that claim belongs to Dr Tulsi Dyal Singh whose story is not only of a local boy made good story but also of a local boy who made good by going beyond the call of duty by extended his story in the service of others especially in service to his alma mater.
“Each of us can claim with equal certitude that ‘our years’ were the school’s finest! That’s the beauty of it. We each felt special and that ‘our years’ were indeed the best.”
And that’s the way it has been over the first 100 years of Berbice High School. Viewed from this angle, it is easy to appreciate why the school is noted for its many achievements. Apart from being the first high school in Berbice, its patrons are justly proud that the institution has been able to maintain and retain its original name. This is based on the school’s ability to withstand and surmount its many challenges for 100 years. And, according to Dr Singh, “[i]t is a testament to the fortitude of those who conceived, executed and persevered that Berbice High School survived.”
Responses to this author telephone (592) 226-0065 or email: oraltradition2002@yahoo.com