St Anne's retirees honoured for teaching passion

A passion, along with determination, was the main contributor which pushed Everald Campbell for 38 years as an educator.

Campbell was one of five retired teachers honoured during a function hosted by the St Anne's High School in Kingston last Friday.

The honouree, who has been retired since 2009, described his teaching journey as "happy years".

He recalled that being an educator was very rewarding and despite the challenges, he believed he did his best to contribute to the betterment of children's education.

Campbell told The Gleaner that he could have switched to banking, as he was very competent in that field, but decided to teach, as he had a heart for education and regarded that as a way of giving back to the country and contributing to the development of youths.

"I could have been in banking because I'm a competent accountant, but I chose teaching because I think it is rewarding and I would be able to contribute to education and I really love the profession," he said.

Of his 38 years of teaching, he was at St Anne's for 31 years, specialising in industrial arts at the grade 10-11 level.

Greatest challenge

Campbell's greatest challenge, though, according to him, was the quality of students he had to teach. He recalled that some were unable to read and as a result he had to work assiduously in bringing them to a standard that was satisfactory.

"I was really baffled by the quality of students that I had to teach. We find that many of them were unable to read and so I had to try my very best in bringing them to a standard that was acceptable," he shared.

He therefore recommended that more resources are channelled into the education system, so as to better assist children who are slow.

Basil Burrell is also a proud honouree who thinks he is deserving of the award. He has been teaching for 35 years.

Burrell taught principles of accounts and was the head of the Business Education Department for a number of years.

He pointed out that students have always gravitated towards him and he has always been successful in attaining good pass rates from his students over the years.

Committed to students

One could see the depth of his passion for the profession as he shared that even during the terrors of the 1980 and 1989 elections, he still remained committed to educating the students.

"I really had a passion for teaching because I remember even when the guns barked during the '80 and '89 elections, I would still find myself at school," he declared.

Likewise, he had his challenges. He was troubled by the fact that most students had parents who were illiterate and as a result he observed that students had no motivation from home, therefore in some cases, he had to be playing the role of the parents.

Both shared how grateful and honoured they felt to have been recognised for their outstanding years of service.

"I feel very honoured and I'm happy that I was able to make such a contribution," Campbell said.

- Jodi-Ann Gilpin