Vanessen Tirvassen
23 October 2007
Port Louis — "I began my primary education at Poudre D'Or RCA School. But because of circumstances, I left there when I was in Standard V. I ended up doing my last year, that is Standard VI, in Rivière du Rempart Government School. Finally, as there was no CPE at the time, I had to do what was called the 'Petite bourse'. I did it at the Eastern Suburb Government School, in Port-Louis, and got my Junior Scholarship there.
The most unforgettable person whom I will never forget for the role he played in my life was Mr. Abdool. He was my teacher and the one who guided me during that period at the Eastern Suburb Government School. He was quite tall and well-built. Hence, he had a sort of towering and imposing presence.
I must say that his temper was positively strange. Indeed, Mr. Abdool was the sort of person who could express his annoyance without losing his calm. But more importantly, he would never show anger, in whatever circumstances. As a result, I always had the impression he could not be angry about anything.
Mr. Abdool never laughed. He would show his joy or happiness simply by smiling, which he rarely did. He would sometimes be ironical but his irony was tinged with kindness. He was very aloof from everybody, including from other teachers, and yet, paradoxically we all knew he was really interested in our work as pupils and in our welfare as children. Mr. Abdool was strict and very impartial. I have to concede that most of us, if not all, were scared of him because he gave the impression nobody could fool him about anything. It was very difficult to lie to him.
His strictness was so relevant that nobody in the class could allow himself to have a special relationship with him, whether it was in school or outside the school's premises. In fact, very often I had the feeling that Mr. Abdool had a special relationship with himself and his responsibilities as a teacher. One must not forget that he was very efficient. Teaching seemed to be his only interest in life.
Obviously like anyone else, during my time as a pupil, there were also teachers whom I disliked. Actually, there were quite a few. But I do not think I had specific reasons to dislike them. I tended to dislike teachers when I did not enjoy the subjects they taught. Just to give some examples of the subjects I did not like, there were Mathematics and Geography.
Coming back to Mr. Abdool I must say that I owe him a lot. He demanded and expected a lot from his pupils. He had a philosophy. And his philosophy was a very easy one to understand: a disciplined and studious approach to life would keep kids out of trouble."
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