On a mission to mould the nation’s children, ‘Sir’ Harrinarine is a ‘Special Person’

Mar 10, 2019 Features / Columnists, Special Person

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 “Teaching is very challenging and school is not without difficulties, but as a teacher, even as a head teacher, I have tried my best to be what you call a servant leader. I get involved, I try to help…There are so many teachers who talk about the stress of teaching, but I really love teaching, and I like to see my students succeed.”

 

By Sharmain Grainger

“Celebrate 49 with victory in mind” was the theme under which Mashramani was celebrated this year. Mashramani is a carnival-type celebration dedicated to commemorating the date that Guyana became a Cooperative Republic [February 23, 1970], and each year a special theme is assigned to the celebration.

Last year the theme was “Let’s cooperate and celebrate Republic 48”.
What some people may not know, however, is that the two most recent themes were the handiwork of a very ambitious man. His name is Harrinarine, and although he is a small-statured man, his achievements as an educator have been colossal.
He hails from Independence Street, La Grange, situated on the West Bank of Demerara, where he had a modest upbringing as the fifth of six children born to parents Lucky and Lackdai Narine. He was born on February 13, 1970 – a few days before Guyana became a Cooperative Republic. For this very reason Harrinarine has had a fondness for Mashramani celebration.
“I always feel honoured to be contributing to nationhood… When the country is preparing to celebrate its Republic anniversary, I am celebrating my birthday,” said a smiling Harrinarine during a recent interview.

FOUNDATION
In fact, during that very interview, he recalled that he was the only one of his siblings to benefit from secondary, tertiary and post-tertiary levels of education, compliments of his hard-working parents. Lucky, his father, was a labourer at the Versailles Sugar Estate, and his mother, Lackdai, was a vendor at Bourda Market. Although he felt privileged to attend school, the young Harrinarine couldn’t see himself developing a passion for academics. This, however, was just a passing phase of his life.
He recalled attending La Grange Primary School and was as playful as the next child.
“I wasn’t that interested in education, but I went through the paces,” Harrinarine noted, as he recounted securing placement at Vreed en Hoop Community High School after writing the Common Entrance Examination in 1981.

“I was not ambitious to be an educated person, but my parents gave me the opportunity to attend the Vreed en Hoop school. In my first year I got first place and that, I think, is what changed the course of my life. I got first place in all my classes as I progressed to fourth form,” Harrinarine recalled.
He was allowed to write the Secondary School Entrance Examination and gained a place at Patentia Secondary School, where he really became intrigued by his learning experience. He became such a dedicated and focused student that he even became a head prefect.

TEACHING
Harrinarine wrote the Caribbean Examinations Council [CXC]’s exam in 1989, after which he was given the opportunity to attend the Guyana National Service Senior Cadet Camp. By this time, he had developed an unadulterated passion for education, and understandably was eager to delve into its delivery. He, moreover, applied to become an acting teacher at his former secondary school – Patentia Secondary – where he was employed as an acting teacher under the tenure of then Headmaster Sydney Williams. Williams, according to Harrinarine, was his mentor, as was another educator – Krishnanand Persaud.
He would teach for two years before moving on to elevate himself as a trained teacher at the Cyril Potter College of Education [CPCE]. His stint at CPCE was particularly accommodating, given the fact that his parents were not financially sound enough to meet all of their children’s needs.

“I must express thanks to former principal Myrna Bernard, wife of Deryck Bernard [deceased] who was a former Education Minister, who allowed me the opportunity to be a residential student, even though I was in Region Three. I don’t think my parents could have afforded it…so I am always grateful to her,” he intimated.
After completing CPCE in 1993, Harrinarine was given the opportunity to return to his old school as a trained teacher. In fact, he was among the dedicated teaching staff of the school who helped Patentia to become the most improved Junior Secondary School in 1997.
Even as he reminisced on the efforts that led to the school’s improved performance, Harrinarine recalled that in 2005 the school was able to produce the third best student in the country. But according to him, the focus was never on uplifting students academically alone, but in other areas as well, with the view of making them well-rounded individuals.
“I was very happy in promoting that country school that did well both in academics and in extra-curricular activities and athletics too,” recalled Harrinarine. However, despite driven by a passion to improve his alma mater, by 2007 he sought a transfer to teach at West Demerara Secondary School, also situated on the West Bank of Demerara. At West Demerara Secondary, Harrinarine was able to move up the teaching ranks and before long was named the Head of Department for Business.

PASSION
By 2008 he was offered a Ministry of Education scholarship to complete a Master’s in Education at the University of Guyana, in collaboration with South Eastern University of Florida. Prior to this, Harrinarine had completed certificate and degree programmes in education.
In 2009 he was selected to be a part of the Ministry of Education’s Cadet programme. Being a cadet officer means that a teacher has been selected for training to become a District Education Officer, Subject Specialist, Test Development officer or some other crucial position in the education sector.
He, however, lasted a mere three months in this area, before his desire for teaching became too overwhelming for him to be out of the classroom. This saw Harrinarine in 2011 applying for and easily securing the vacant Deputy Headteacher position at West Demerara Secondary.
By 2014, there was an opening for the Headmaster position at the very school, for which Harrinarine applied and was appointed.

“I want to say that I don’t think there is anything in education that I have applied for or attempted that I haven’t gotten through with,” recalled Harrinarine, whose outstanding work as an educator has been well documented and recognised over the years.
In 2015, for instance, he was awarded best teacher of the year by the Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU) in collaboration with the Ministry of the Presidency. This, of course, came as no surprise to Harrinarine, or even his peers for that matter, as he is often recognised for his efforts as a committed educator. For the past two years he was awarded by the Region Three Department of Education for being the teacher with the best attendance at the secondary level.
While for some educators the work can prove to be burdensome, Harrinarine is convinced that he was born for this. He is able to be continually outstanding at what he does, since he had long learnt to embrace the motto of the GTU which speaks to moulding the nation. “We mould the nation…I believe that education is important … It is a pathway to success and I am happy to be a part of that.”

INSPIRATION
In fact, he confided that he was inspired to become a teacher because he had long found that “Education can help to change lives. Education gives you the opportunity to change your life, it empowers and helps to build capacity; it can help students realise their dreams and helps them to overcome challenges in life.”
Even as he referenced an old adage “what the mind can conceive and believe it can achieve,” Harrinarine shared his belief that each of his students has the potential to achieve whatever they set their minds to. He, however, stressed the importance of support to propel them to the place of achievement.
“Teaching is very challenging and school is not without difficulties, but as a teacher, even as a head teacher, I have tried my best to be what you call a servant leader. I get involved, I try to help…There are so many teachers who talk about the stress of teaching, but I really love teaching, and I like to see my students succeed,” Harrinarine said.

He added, “I always aim to motivate and empower, so that my students can see themselves as something significant. I usually urge each of my students not to see themselves as a failure but as a success,” Harrinarine shared.
In fact it is the view of this astute educator that any productive classroom should never be quiet, but rather, be an interactive environment. “A classroom should encourage the sharing of ideas and experiences…there must be a two-way conversation [between teacher and students]…I believe we must allow children to express themselves,” Harrinarine added.

EXTRA-CURRICULAR
He made it clear that in order for a student to reach his or her fullest potential, they cannot only focus on the academics, but extra-curricular activities are equally important. “In my master’s thesis, I looked at the correlation between extra-curricular activities and academics. It showed that if students play they will not necessarily have high grades, but you will see potential in that child to bat, bowl or kick a football, to make a speech, to become a leader, and that is what helps to make a well-rounded child; and that is in tune with the vision of the education sector right now,” Harrinarine asserted.
Moreover, at West Demerara Secondary, students are exposed to a great deal more than just academics, thanks to Harrinarine.
Listing some of the extra-curricular activities offered at the school, he spoke of his school’s outstanding involvement in sports such as cricket, volleyball, chess, table tennis and athletics. In fact, the school has been just as outstanding in activities such as steel pan and has even competed on a national level. The school also has a vibrant choir, Harrinarine noted, adding “Come September we will be at the National Cultural Centre singing our hearts out.”

But despite his years of efforts to educate the nation’s children, Harrinarine noted that there are still a few things he hopes to achieve before his teaching years are over at West Demerara Secondary. As such, he shared his intent to continue to lead his school of 43 teachers and a student population of 614 to even more successes.
Among the areas that Harrinarine has his sights on, is to achieve 100 percent passes at Maths and English. Already the school is halfway there, as it recorded a 100 percent pass rate at both English A and English B at the last examination sitting.
According to Harrinarine, “I want to see every child who writes Mathematics and English passing, and I am optimistic it will happen this year or come very close.”

Harrinarine is also hopeful that his school could one day become a Sixth Form School. In this regard, the school has already started to put measures in place.
“I am happy to say I met with [Education] Minister [Nicolette] Henry already on this matter. She is willing to accept our proposal to have our school accredited as an A level centre in the future,” said Harrinarine, who asserted that a school can record laudable achievements if support from various stakeholders is forthcoming.
Support for West Demerara Secondary has not been deficient since, according to Harrinarine, “I really appreciate the support the school gets from the Board and PTA. Parents, they are a very important stakeholders, and I like the support we get from them, and I would appeal for more parents to come on board to push our children, and by extension our school,” said Harrinarine.
To show our appreciation for his efforts as an educator, today we at Kaieteur News bestow ‘Sir’ Harrinarine with our title of ‘Special Person’.

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