Internationally acclaimed Guyanese Educator Dr. Julie Jailall is a Special Person

Sep 08, 2024 News

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Cementing her legacy as a valued professional…

Kaieteur News – History was created on July 9, 2024 when author, University instructor, and an internationally recognized Guyanese educator Dr. Julie Jailall was bestowed by the Governor of the State of North Carolina, USA with that state’s highest honour – “The Order of the Long Leaf Pine” – for excellence in education leadership and service.

The prestigious Order of the Long Leaf Pine award established in 1963 has been reserved by North Carolina governors to honor individuals who have made significant contributions to the state and their communities through exemplary service and exceptional accomplishments.

 

The Order of the Long Leaf Pine Society of which Dr. Jailall is now a member, stands as the state’s highest honorary society, promoting the ideals of civic leadership, service, and accomplishment.

The award was a just a suitable addition to list of honours that Dr Jailall has amassed over the course of three decades of her illustrious career.    It is believed Dr. Jailall, who is the current Director of the Cyril Potter College of Education might be the only Guyanese to have received this feat.

She has been lauded for her stellar contribution in the education sector in North Carolina (NC) as well as her home country, Guyana. Dr. Jailall’s journey in education spans decades from her beginnings as an educator in Guyana to earning her Doctorate in Education from the North Carolina State University.

Her impressive resume is replete with professional experience and credentials inclusive of six degrees.  After contributing significantly to Guyana’s education system, Dr Jailall migrated to the US, where she spent over 30 years investing her time and efforts in academic field.

According to Education Digest, a North Carolina Dr. Jailall is lauded for her tenure across the State of North Carolina. She held various pivotal roles, including teacher, Assistant Principal, Principal, and Executive Director for public and charters schools across the state.

Her leadership and vision as the Superintendent of Prison Education Services were instrumental in creating new positions within the North Carolina Department of Adult Correction (NCDAC) advocating tirelessly for offender education across 54 correctional institutions.

The NC publication noted that the award bestowed on the valued educator stated: “Dr. Julie Jailall, recently retired as the Education Superintendent for the North Carolina Department of Adult Correction (NCDAC), has returned to her homeland of Guyana after an illustrious career in North Carolina…”

“As Dr.Jailall transitions back to Guyana, her legacy of educational leadership and commitment to enhancing the lives of others through education will continue to inspire generations. Her impact on North Carolina’s educational landscape and her advocacy for offender education leaves a lasting imprint on the state’s educational and correctional systems.”

In her current capacity as Director of CPCE, Dr. Jailall manages at least 20 satellite college centres across Guyana.  She told The Waterfalls that it is honour to return to serve her country in this capacity.

‘BETTER THAN GOLD”

Dr. Jailall hails originally from Hague Backdam West Coast Demerara (WCD), and then her family moved to Unity Village in the Hubu Parika, East Bank Essequibo (EBE). As a result, she attended Hague Backdam Nursery School and Blake Primary (EBE) and because there was no high school in her village, she was the only student continuing in the “primary top.”

This era of her life is reflected in her book, “Sharda: A World Caribbean-Guyana literature series.”

Dr. Jailall recalled “my family farmed rice and cash crops and on Saturdays, my mother would sell our produce at the Leonora Market.”

She noted that her father on the other hand loved to teach. He spent a lot of his time to teaching children from their village Hindi and English.  She said “he would often tell us ‘education is greater than gold.’ This resonated with me as a child.”

Ironically, Dr. Jailall recalled that her father did not see the need for his “girl child” to achieve the highest level of education.” She said “I really had to beg them to continue to go to school because we were a staunch Hindu family and culturally, this is just not something that was a norm.”

As a result, after passing the Preliminary Examination and CP (College of Preceptors examinations) at age 13, Dr. Jailall earned a place to Zeeburg High School but her mom did not want to send “a girl child to high school.” Dr. Jailall, however, was determined to go on to high school.  She later enrolled in a private school called Uitvlugt College, which, unfortunately, closed after a year.

Dr. Jailall, then, persisted through many hunger strikes until her mother relented and later sent her to Tutorial High for one and a half years where she passed enough GCEs (London University General Certificate of Education Exams) qualifying her for enrollment at the University of Guyana.  It took a lot more persuasion than mere “hunger strikes” to convince her mother to finally send her to UG.

Dr. Jailall became the first and the only child of her 10 siblings to earn a college degree, or more accurately, five accredited college degrees. Dr. Jailall credits her teacher – the late Henry Rahaman as the person who influenced her the most and was her inspiration towards excellence. Mr. Rahaman, who later became Principal of St. Roses High, recognized Dr. Jailall’s potentials as a gifted child and he introduced her to her first book, Kidnapped by RL Stevenson borrowed from the Salem Public Library located in the Parika area on the East Bank of Essequibo. Dr. Jailall, the voracious reader that she was, ended up reading every book in her school’s library.

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

Before she was recommended by the NCDAC for the highest award

Dr. Jailall worked at all levels of education from kindergarten to university levels. She worked in various schools in Guyana in the 1970s – Blake Primary School, St. Lawrence Primary School, Parika-Salem Primary, and Greenwich Park Primary East Bank Essequibo.

She also worked at Cummings Lodge Secondary School as an English teacher. She moved to Grand Bahamas, Bahamas where she worked as an English teacher at the Hawksbill High School, Bahamas.

In her early 30’s, Dr. Jailall migrated to North Carolina, USA where she worked at all levels of education in four different counties as an English Teacher, and a Special Education teacher working with students with learning disabilities and students who were described as behaviorally and emotionally handicapped.

Dr. Jailall was a teacher with passion and deep empathy. Although she was licensed to teach regular education, she instead took the challenge to teach special education at a time when her school district couldn’t find candidates for special needs students. Her approach was “to teach students with special needs as though they were gifted!”

She helped each student to find their gift and then she celebrated them as “blossoms of the school!” Due to her service to students with special needs, she won several grants, especially to serve disadvantaged students.

It was no surprise when Dr. Jailall received the flagship, prestigious “Flame for Learning” Award from Johnston County Schools, North Carolina (NC), for her dedication and passion as an educator for the neediest of students.

Dr. Jailall also worked in NC as a school principal for several elementary schools, middle schools, and high schools. Dr. Jailall’s experience included that of Executive Director of two large Charter Schools, and Assistant Director of a “Montessori” School.

She also served as a College Instructor at the Brunswick County Community College in Washington, NC, USA, and at the Berbice Campus of the University of Guyana. Additionally, she served as the Education Consultant as the Learning Disabilities specialist at the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction.

Dr. Julie Jailall and her husband Dr. Jerry Jailall then moved to Abu Dhabi (near Dubai) in the United Arab Emirates where she taught at an all-girls public School in Al Mafraq, and she also taught in the Masters in Education programme at the Abu Dhabi University.

In addition to her wealth of work experience, Dr. Jailall has completed five fully accredited face-to-face degrees – a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Visual Art and a postgraduate Diploma in Education from the University of Guyana; a Master of Arts degree in Education Leadership and Curriculum Studies and a post-graduate Certificate of Advanced Studies in creative writing and English as Second Language from the East Carolina University; and a Doctor of Education Degree in Education Leadership and Policy Studies from the North Carolina State University.

Dr.  Jailall recalled as she moved from various leadership positions in NC, she saw the vacancy for superintendent at NCDAC and decided to take on the challenge of ensuring that inmates were educated.

“…I was supervising the education in 54 prisons and I did this for four years.

It was a very expansive job to be honest; I had to overlook the programmes for 15000 inmates in school”

TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP

 

In 2009, Dr. Jailall published her first book, “Sharda”, and then later co-authored a bestselling book used in school districts and colleges around the world, “The Principal as Curriculum Leader: Shaping what is Taught and Tested” published by the international Corwin Press.

 

Dr. Jailall has been awarded as a school transformation and reform expert for successfully turning around low-performing schools into high performing schools. Her service as a transformational school leader for decades included being a driving force for change and transformation for two elementary schools.

During her leadership, both of these schools made tremendous jumps in exemplary student achievement in a short time. Cooper Elementary School was the most featured school in the local newspaper.

Transformational leadership is her trademark and that was why she was recruited as a Superintendent of Schools for the North Carolina Prison System in the North Carolina Department of Adult Correction where she had education programmes in 54 state prisons for adults and four special schools for inmates under 18 years old.

She partnered with seven universities and 41 community colleges to strengthen education programmes in the prison schools. Under her leadership, each inmate was provided a digital tablet to access education services. Inmates complete special programs, micro credentials and certifications, and can obtain associate and Bachelor’s degrees while in prison.

In their nomination of Dr. Jailall for the “Order of the Long Leaf Pine,” the North Carolina Department of Adult Correction wrote, “It is with great delight that we nominate Dr. Julie Jailall, former Superintendent of Education, North Carolina Department of Adult Correction for The Order of The Long Leaf Pine Award for her exceptional accomplishments and exemplary service to the State of North Carolina…”

“She was a deeply committed, hard-working, enthusiastic and transformative leader who made significant and positive changes within the agency for the rehabilitation of offenders through education. Dr. Jailall’s legacy as a change agent within the agency and her long history of exemplary service in education in several counties – Brunswick, Beaufort, Johnston, Alamance-Burlington, and Wake – makes her a deserving candidate for the Order of the Long Leaf Pine award.” NCDAC said.

Dr. Jailall has three sons and two grandchildren. Her hobbies include gardening, traveling, visual art and badminton. For all these accomplishments and the historic award of the Order of the Long Leaf Pine, Dr. Julie Jailall is truly a “Special Person.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

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• ‘BETTER THAN GOLD”, Hague Backdam West Coast Demerara, TEACHING EXPERIENCE, The Order of the Long Leaf Pine

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