By Lakhram Bhagirat
A mother always tries her best to let her children live the best life possible without revealing the struggles she goes through to give them that life, and that is exactly what Satram Mohamed’s mother did for him. For that, he says he owes every success in his life to her.
Satram, a student of West Demerara Secondary School (WDSS), recently sat 15 subjects at the Caribbean Secondary Examinations Council (CSEC) exam and gained Grades One to Three passes in all. His performance was so exceptional that he was awarded the top performer spot at WDSS.
The 17-year-old is from the village of La Grange, on the West Bank of Demerara and would have attended the La Grange Primary School during his early years. He wrote the National Grade Six Assessment and gained a spot at WDSS. He explained that throughout his early educational life, he was a high flier but that never got to his head and he remained humble.
Going back to growing up, Satram tells me that it was a fun experience. He would spend his afternoons riding on the narrow street and his father would take him fishing. One of his favourite things to do was to visit their relatives who lived far away. However, his parents would later separate and Satram, his mom Mohanie Makoon and brother would move to his maternal grandparents to live.
He is very coy when it comes to talking about his family life and how it would have affected or motivated him. “My parents are separated and currently I’m living with my mom, brother and grandparents. My mother gave me all the support I needed to be who I am today and I would like to thank her for that.” That’s all he tells me and I don’t push it.
His younger brother, Shivesh Mohamed is now a Fourth Form
student at Queen’s College and he hopes his performance can motivate his brother to do far better than he did. Redirecting me to his education, Satram tells me that during his years at La Grange Primary, he always strived to maintain the first position in class and noted that his percentage was never below 80.
When he entered secondary school, he tried to do the same but that proved to be a bit more challenging. Nevertheless he persisted and continued the streak.
“Secondary school however, was much tougher. Form One and Two, I was never actually serious about studying and books. Third Form I started being more serious and in the National Grade Nine Assessment I attained one A in Mathematics and three Bs in the remaining core subjects and that was the second highest for West Dem. The top student, Anjalie Ramraj, had attained an A and three Bs as well. However, she scored 0.5 more of a mark than I did.”
After he completed Third Form, he was places in the Sciences stream and hit the ground running. His biggest enemy was managing his time properly and battling the School Based Assessment (SBA) component of CSEC. But studying has never been a strong suit of him and despite that he recalls investing the time to study earlier.
“It was actually easier for me in that way because it wasn’t a lot of pressure on me for any last minute studying. I must thank Sir Harrinarine, the Headmaster, for that advice and everything else he had done. He was my Mathematics and Principles of Accounts teacher,” Satram said.
When I asked him, why 15 subjects? His response was one that didn’t quite surprise me since he said that he had no exact reason. Like many teenagers, Satram too was unsure of the career path so he wanted to be prepared for any eventuality and felt that he needed to write more subjects and he was fully supported by both his teachers and family.
Now that CSEC is over, Satram is working temporarily but has his eyes set on the field of geology. He hopes to become a Geologist but later on wants to venture into the field of Oceanography.
He is basking in the glory of his success and taking life in stride. He remains thankful to those who support him and urges everyone to follow their passion since following his passion led him to being his school’s top performer. (Times Sunday Magazine)
