Latest update January 20th, 2025 4:00 AM
Guyana Foundation appoints educationist to Board of Trustees
The Guyana Foundation has announced the appointment of Vidya Seekwar-Jaisaree to its board of Trustees.
Vidya Seekwar-Jaisaree
She will serve a two-year term commencing on October 1, 2014, and brings a distinguished record of achievement in the education sector in Canada to her new role.
A former student of The Bishops’ High School as well as Queen’s College, she pursued her post-secondary education in Ontario, Canada where she graduated with a B.A. Honours in French and English. She went on to pursue a career in education, holding both a Bachelor and Master’s Degree in Education.
Ms. Jaisaree has worked in the elementary school system in Ontario as a teacher, a vice-principal and a principal in both English and French schools. She holds special qualifications in the teaching of French as a Second Language and children identified as gifted. She is also a trained Reading Recovery teacher, a programme designed to offer intensive support to young at-risk readers.
Ms. Jaisaree’s work as an educator extends beyond the elementary school system. She has worked as a Course Director at York University, training prospective teachers in the pre-service education programme and supporting and coaching them as they practiced their craft in various classrooms. She has also worked as a Programme Officer at the Ontario College of Teachers where she was involved in reviewing and developing the Standards of Practice and Ethical Standards for the teaching profession in Ontario.
In 2013, she was seconded from her position as principal in a French Immersion school to contribute her expertise as a Student Achievement Officer with the Literacy and Numeracy Secretariat at the Ontario Ministry of Education. In her current role, she is engaged with educators across Ontario in raising achievement levels in literacy and numeracy and ensuring equity of outcomes for all students. She offers support to teachers, principals and superintendents as they develop and implement system and school improvement plans.
Ms. Jaisaree is a passionate educator who sees education as the single most effective way to allow children to reach their potential, regardless of social or economic circumstances. She has worked as a member of a Parent and Community Engagement Committee, focused on engaging parents as partners and advocates in their children’s education and making schools safe and inclusive places of learning.
She credits much of her success to the strong educational foundation she received in Guyana. As someone who benefited from a strong public school system in Guyana, Ms. Jaisaree looks forward to giving back to Guyana some of what she was fortunate enough to have received. She is thrilled to have the opportunity to contribute to the work of the Guyana Foundation.
According to Founder of the Guyana Foundation, Mrs. Supriya Singh-Bodden, “the decline in literacy levels in Guyana has been of tremendous concern to the Foundation. We have been actively seeking out like-minded individuals to build and strengthen our work in the area of literacy, and are confident that Vidya’s experiences as an educator in Canada will be invaluable to us. We are so delighted that she is a part of our team, and look forward to the new programs that she will help us to develop to bring improvement to the lives of Guyanese.”
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