Seasoned Guyanese mathematics teacher Mr. Winston Savory is a ‘Special Person’

Jan 08, 2023 News

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With a career spanning over forty years …

By Rehanna Ramsay

Kaieteur News – Mr. Winston Savory is no doubt a seasoned Guyanese educator. With over forty years as a teacher, he has certainly played his part in shaping the future of thousands of Guyanese, as well as those in the region, by reason of his stint working with the department of education in St Lucia.

Love and commitment to his vocation, has led this week’s ‘Special Person’ to continue teaching way past his age of retirement.  Today, he holds the position of Vice Principal (VP) of Morgan’s Learning Centre (MLC).This is in addition to teaching mathematics at MLC- a top performing private school located in Lodge, Georgetown—the community where he grew up.

Mr. Savory told the Waterfall that he never imagined that teaching would be his lifelong career, given that he was initially reluctant to join the profession. According to him, teaching was his only viable career option at a time when he had difficulty finding stable work.

He shared, “I did some odds and ends before becoming a teacher; it is a mentor of mine who encouraged me to join the profession.”

Savory said however, that he had to confront and overcome some personal challenges

“Now I am speaking clearly but back then I used to stutter terribly, so I never wanted to teach. I had no confidence in myself,” he said.  After becoming a teacher, Mr. Savory used the platform to become better and more confident.

He said, “Having to stand in front the classroom every day and use my voice to help pupils understand and grasp the concepts I am teaching forced me to step outside my comfort zone, confront and overcome my fears.”

To this end, he credits teaching for his personal as well as his professional advancements.

“Teaching has saved my life in so many ways. Had I not taken the chance so many moons ago, I would not be equipped with the skills I have today, to help so many students here at Morgan’s Learning Centre and those I taught before to perform exceptionally well at CSEC,” the teacher added; expressing obvious satisfaction with his students’ performance.

Rightfully so, Mr. Savory’s students record over a 90 percent pass rate at the Caribbean  Secondary Examination Certificate (CSEC), at MLC each year. Prior to this, he saw similar results teaching students in the public school system.

ROOTS

For this, Mr. Savory is especially pleased to spend his days pouring knowledge into students at the school located in Lodge– the community where the Savory family has their roots.

He said, “I come from a humble family, we were nine siblings for my parents and we were mostly boys. Growing up I remember that when our community here in Lodge was very close-knit, so much so that when one person achieved something we took it as a win for everyone and If  something bad happened to one person, it was felt throughout the village.”

 

Savory said that his family was and is still deeply involved in church work.

“My siblings and I attended St. Sidwell’s Anglican (Church) school by virtue of my father’s involvement there. My mother who is still alive is a Congregationalist, so we branch off to attend Salem Church. This was an important part of my upbringing,” he said

Outside of the Church, the family did their best to ensure that academic achievement was a priority. He was about the age of 10 when an accident rendered him hospitalized and unable to write the Common Entrance Examination.  He said some of his siblings sacrificed for the others to finish school.  “My family did not have the means, and we had difficulty paying because education was not free in those days, some of my brothers dropped out of school and started working.”

Nevertheless, the young Savory wrote the college preceptors test and was awarded a place at secondary school.

“By God’s grace,” he said he was able to attend and complete secondary school.

It was while there that he met his High School teacher who later became his mentor, Ms. Bibi Haniff. According to him, Ms. Haniff was instrumental in helping him complete High School.

“I was about to drop out during some difficult times, but she encouraged me to stay in school and she became a guide for me,” he added.

MENTOR  

As one would imagine, Mr. Savory sang high praises for his former teacher and mentor. He noted that Ms. Haniff was the person he went to when he was having difficulty finding work.

He recalled, “She wrote a letter on my behalf and sent me to see the former Chief Education Officer and that is how I landed my first teaching job.” He said too that not only did, Ms. Haniff help him get work but she served as an example of being successful at what he did.

“I always patterned myself after her. I see her every time I step into the classroom and into my role as a teacher.  The way she taught is always inspiring to me because I wasn’t the brightest student, but she managed to help me so that I could have acquired six subjects at GCE,” Savory stated.

Added to Ms. Haniff, the math teacher said there are several other persons within the profession that inspired him.  He noted that Sir Orin Morgan, the Founder, and Principal of Morgan’s Learning Centre, is another source of motivation.

“I have had the privilege of watching Sir Morgan grow and accomplish all that he has today. He is not only an excellent and hardworking teacher but he is an excellent human being,  he continues to include me in his quest to help produce some of Guyana’s top CSEC performers…I am therefore proud to be a part of this journey and what he is doing here at Morgan’s Learning Centre,” Savory added.

He said too that outside of professional life, his family serves as a constant source of inspiration.  Mr. Savory is married to his wife, Beverley for over three decades. The couple has five adult children all of whom they cherish. He related that all his children are successful in their own right. Mr. Savory praises his wife for their achievement and for keeping the family together while he was hard at work.

TEACHING EXPERIENCES

With regard to his teaching experiences, Mr. Savory told the Waterfall that he has come a long way since his first job placement in the interior (Madhia) Region Eight.

Savory noted that being far away from his home and family in Georgetown, proved extremely difficult but he completed his stint. His time working away from home earned him a recommendation from a Region Eight Education Officer to be trained at the Cyril Potter College of Education (CPCE) after which he was transferred back to Georgetown to teach all age schools.

He noted that “Perhaps he [the education officer] saw something in me that caused him to recommend me for college, but all I can remember was that he was observing me in the classroom.”

After completing training in college, Mr. Savory taught at an all-age school until he was transferred to teach at St Mary’s Community High School. While there, he solidified himself as a top Mathematics teacher, even becoming the head of the Mathematics and Science Department.  Given his expertise in the field, Mr. Savory was also tasked with putting together and preparing students for the preliminary examination (an entrance examination) at St. Mary’s Community High School.

He recalled: “We had some fairly good results at the preliminary examination and made a name for me at that school”

His reputation opened other opportunities and allowed him a platform to train other teachers at the school, with the skills, and methodology of teaching Mathematics. His work led him to be promoted to teaching at President’s College –one of the nation’s top secondary institutions in the 1980s.

While at President College, Mr. Savory entered the University of Guyana where he spent five years and earned a bachelor’s degree majoring in Mathematics.

A few years later, he migrated to St Lucia, where he continued his vocation on the recommendation of a friend. While in St Lucia, Mr. Savory continued the trend of producing top performers in Mathematics at the Leon Hess Comprehensive Secondary School. He worked in St Lucia for over 20 years.

He would often return to Guyana and spend his holidays working part-time with MLC and helping Guyanese students perform well in their examinations.

Reflecting on his accomplishments, Mr. Savory said “I have no regrets, if I had to do it all over again I would be a teacher.”

He added, “I believe God has a plan for all of us and if I had not joined teaching, I do not believe I would have ever been able to overcome the stutter and be the confident speaker and person I am today.”

 

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