By Lakhram Bhagirat
Nobility is the fundamental principle of the teaching profession and teachers are epitomes of nobleness. They are the ones who take in a stranger’s child and instill knowledge beyond bounds and encourages that child to aim for beyond the skies. Teachers are the ones who teach us to define ourselves and make our mark and that is exactly what Kamal Persaud has been doing for over 36 years.
It is surprising that she can make such a commitment to caring for a stranger’s child as she would her own. During her lifetime Miss Kamal has nurtured thousands of minds, solved millions of conflicts as well as assist in potty training hundreds of children. But, how can she do that when she is the mother of only one child?
Miss Kamal is an extraordinary teacher who has been a mother to all her students. She is well respected by her peers and well loved by her students. Miss Kamal formally ended her teaching career on April 1, 2017, when she retired as Head of the Vreed en Hoop Secondary School, West Coast Demerara. She has given 36 years of her life to helping the children of Guyana realize their true potentials. Many of her students as co-workers just knew the stern but fair woman. They just knew that she was professional and expected the same conduct from them, for some this will be the first time they are going to get personal with her. They are going to know the story that made this strong, independent woman who she really is.
She was born and brought up in a small village called Blankenburg on the West Coast of Demerara. Growing up was an experience for her as she remembered that academics played an integral role in her life. She was destined to succeed and was always someone who aimed for beyond what was expected of her. She attended the Blankenburg Primary School and when she sat the Common Entrance Examination Miss Kamal was awarded a place at Stewartville Secondary.
In Secondary School, she was laser-focused on being the best version of herself and her teachers consistently pushed her to do exactly that. In 1979, Miss Kamal wrote the General Certificate of Education (GCE) examination but was undecided as to what career she wanted to pursue.
“Back in that time, we had very little choices. It was either you become a nurse or a teacher but not a lot of people wanted to do that because you had to do some time with the National Service. It was only for three weeks but then it would end up as six weeks or even three months sometime. It was very rough so I was home for a little time before I decided to go out and pursue a career,” she explained.
Miss Kamal joined the teaching staff at the Leonora Nursery School as an acting teacher in 1981 and later moved to the Meten Meer Zorg Primary in 1987. After she moved over to Primary, Miss Kamal then took the Teacher’s Examination and gained entry into the Cyril Potter College of Education in 1990.
She graduated CPCE in 1992 and was placed at the Uitvlugt Secondary School where she stayed for two decades. During her time at Utivlugt Secondary, Miss Kamal graduated from the University of Guyana with a Degree in Reading-a rarely specialized field. She taught English and was one of the most and still remains one of the most respected teachers at the school.
In 1999, she became Head of the English Department and eventually rose through the ranks. Miss Kamal is a teacher that not only saw her students as mere students rather she threw her all in the classroom and dedicated her time to help them become well rounded human beings.
“Once you are a teacher, you always remain a teacher. I believe that a teacher should be there for their student as a parent is and that is all I wanted to be for my children. I believe that children develop the best when they have given the help they need,” Miss Kamal said.
In 2012, Miss Kamal was transferred to the Vreed en Hoop Secondary School where she was eventually promoted to the position of Head Teacher in 2014. She remained in that position until she retired in 2017.
The 56-year-old said that her personal life is not much to talk about since she now spends time with her daughter, who is also a teacher, and her grandchild. She explains that while she enjoys travelling, her personal life is always entwined with her professional life since she is yet to find the switch to turn off being a teacher.
“Teaching made me more uplifted, morally and spiritually. It is one profession it makes you. You have to work in and out and it keeps you abreast with whatever is going on. You have to know what is going on. Even though people may try to smart you, you know what is what and it has helped me to build my life because being a teacher is a noble profession.”
Now she teaches Literacy at the CPCE and continues to adjust to not getting up early in the morning and head to school. She is adjusting to not seeing hundreds of students every day and chatting with them. She misses her classrooms filled with children who are eager to learn and those who are not so eager. (Times Sunday Magazine)
