Hartlands Primary teachers going the extra mile

Karen Sudu, Gleaner Writer

HARTLANDS, St Catherine:

"I AM good at drawing and I want to become an artist," seven year-old Randy Lambert declared. "I can write stories like my sister too!" he beamed.

The eloquent Hartlands Primary School grade-three student who emulates his sister credits his teachers for enhancing his capabilities.

"My teachers help me to read and write well," he told The Gleaner, as he shows off his reading skills.

His class teacher and principal of the more than 62-year-old institution, Birdlyn Wilson, watched intently. As he displayed his craft, she could hardly contain herself.

"Although he is in grade three, he reads at the grade-five level, he is very good," she smiled proudly.

Then, within seconds, Wilson, who spent the last 11 of her 17 years at the institution as headmistress, was overcome with emotion.

"When you get students like Randy who have potential, and you try with them until they go above their grade levels, and then find out that they are gone to other schools because the parents decide to send them to, in their opinion, 'a better school', it's just sad. It doesn't help the school to develop," she explained that parents have removed three students to other schools this academic year.

Her disenchantment became even more apparent, as she detailed how student migration has been a long-standing challenge for the school. The institution built to accommodate 70 students, now has a population of 32.

Still, she asserts that the deplorable condition of the roads in the community, located in the sugar-belt area of St Catherine, near Innswood, also contributes to underpopulation.

"The road is in a bad condition and transportation is a problem. If parents from Chedwin Gardens and White Waters want to send their children here, maybe those children would have to wait like two or three hours before they would get transportation to come," she explained.

Giving back

Though disheartened sometimes, Dennise Grant, grades five and six teacher, told The Gleaner that her desire to impart knowledge and nurture the students has grounded her at the institution for 14 years.

"These children remind me of when I was growing up," Grant reminisced. "I'm from the same low economic background, you could say, basically, I've been there and it was what my teachers did for me why I'm really here. This is one of the ways of giving back," emphasised the mother of three.

She is entrusted with the task of preparing students for the Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT). Five students sat the 2011 examination, with the top performer obtaining an average of 89.3 per cent earning a place at Glenmuir High School in Clarendon.

For the four-member staff, all graduates of Mico Teachers' College and holders of first degrees, teaching does not stop at school.

"I have this little boy in my class, he reminds me of when I was little, and I had him at home all of July. I also take home students to prepare them for GSAT," explained Grant.

Likewise, Wilson indicates that the seven students she is preparing for the 2012 Grade Four Literacy and Numeracy Tests will be spending several weekends at her home, as she strives to get them adequately prepared for the examinations.

"This will be nothing new," she pointed out. "All of us (teachers) take home children from time to time to ensure that they are adequately prepared. We really want the best for them, so if it means taking them home, we will do that, so that's why we are so dismayed when they are moved," she said.

Paula Headley-Ford, teacher of grades one and two, is at the school for 14 years.

"I have forged a bond with the children, and we (teachers) are like agents of change. We are their mothers, teachers, caregivers and friends," she said.

But, even as the staff commits itself to moulding the lives of the young and uplifting the institution, the principal cites difficulty in acquiring sponsorship.

rural@gleanerjm.com

PHOTOS BY KAREN SUDU