By Lakhram Bhagirat
Quite often the struggles of a teacher go unnoticed despite them making so many sacrifices in order to educate the nation’s children. Over the past decade, Modern Languages teacher Anurama Ramgobin has been indomitable.
Ramgobin is now in the prime of his life and says he is very much proud of all he has accomplished so far, noting that the road does not end here but rather there are so many more miles to go. For the past 10 years he has been teaching Spanish and Portuguese at President’s College, his alma mater.
Ramgobin is just 32 years old and holds teaching close to his heart, but says the system is crippling.
“I’m going to be honest; I don’t see myself continuing teaching. I have my personal reasons. I love teaching, but I just dislike the system that I’m teaching in,” he tells me.
Ramgobin’s childhood was one that was filled with excitement and adventure. He was born and raised in the Pomeroon, Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam) and is the third of four children. Growing up along the river had its perks and one of them was him learning to swim before he was five years old. 
“We had lots of animals: ducks, chickens, cows and goats along with a vibrant kitchen garden back then. After-school activities for us entailed feeding the ducks and fowls, sweeping goat pen, cutting grass for cows, the occasional search for a goat or cow when they go missing. And between all of that, we still found time for the occasional game of cricket and ‘ketcha’ in the river. But it wasn’t all fun,” he remembers.
At the age of eight, Ramgobin had a minor accident that caused him to damage the sight in his left eye and as a result, miss a lot of his classes at the Charity Primary School. He explained that he hardly attended classes while in Grade Three owing to the constant travel to Georgetown to visit the Eye Clinic. He would later have surgery to try to correct his vision. Tragedy would strike once again on February 23, 1997 while he was on a fishing trip with his brothers: Ramgobin broke his left leg, just a few weeks before he sat the then Common Entrance Examination.
“I recall my foot being in cast and my father fetching me up the school steps to write the exams and then fetching me back home. In spite of that, I topped my class that year at the Common Entrance Exam.”
He was awarded a place President’s College. After graduating from PC, he then moved on to pursue a Diploma in Agriculture at the Guyana School of Agriculture from 2002 to 2004 after which he joined the staff at President’s College as a Livestock Supervisor. In 2010, Ramgobin was part of the first batch of students at the Cyril Potter College of Education (CPCE) to pursue an Associate Degree in Education majoring in Modern Languages.
“I’m well known amongst the Modern Language teachers as I am constantly trying to change the face of how Modern Languages are being taught in Guyana. I began teaching 10 years ago at President’s College as a Spanish teacher. Before that I was self-employed doing some agriculture in Essequibo. I recalled seeing the ad for a Spanish teacher at my alma mater and decided to apply for the position, since I was fluent in the language.”
For Ramgobin, joining the teaching service was his way of giving back to the school that gave him so much. He said had it been another school advertising, he would not have applied for the job.
“Being a teacher for only 10 years I have certainly grown personally and professionally. There is so much more than just delivering a curriculum in being a teacher. We are mothers, fathers, doctors and nurses. Counsellors, judge and most of all, we become the best economists,” Ramgobin said.
“Teachers are often constrained to the chalk and talk method of teaching because of the lack of upgraded resources being available to them. However, I think our teachers here in Guyana are the best because we produce with limited resources and support from both parents and administration.”
Over the years in the teaching profession, he has seen a slow move to improve the methodology of teaching and as a language teacher he has been striving to ensure that the language learning process is holistic. Every year, he, would take his students on language immersion trips where they are exposed to not only the use of the language but also to the cultural aspects of the language.
The students would go to Panama for the Spanish Immersion Trip, Brazil for Portuguese and Martinique for French.
“What I find different today from when I started teaching is that our children are coming to school with less respect for their adults and there is no single source to be blamed for this. There is more indiscipline in the schools today and as such, teachers have to evolve in order to deal with this ever-growing problem,” he notes.
Ramgobin thoroughly enjoys teaching and tries to make his classes as interactive as possible. Apart from teaching, he also enjoys protecting the environment. He is an avid beekeeper and a foodie by definition.
When asked what is his philosophy, Ramgobin’s answer was one that included all he loves doing.
“My philosophy in life is simple: work, save, travel, eat and enjoy, for money and time spent gaining experience is way better than spending it on material gains.” (Times Sunday Magazine)
