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Mauritius: "Of All Of Them, I'll Stick to My Father"
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L'Express (Port Louis)
13 May 2008
Posted to the web 13 May 2008
Vanessen Tirvassen
Port Louis
"First of all, I would like to emphasise that I had different teachers who had a positive impact on me, at the various academic stages in my life. I started in a primary school in Plaine-des-Papayes. I still remember the difficulties I had to express myself as the only languages I was fluent were Hindi and Bhojpuri. But I was lucky enough because my Standard one teacher, Mrs. Gunputh, helped me feel at ease despite this constraint. Because of that problem, I felt forsaken and sometimes left apart. Nevertheless, I perceived her behaviour as if she was mollycoddling me. As a result I felt well supported as I managed better this transition between home and school.
But regarding the language issue, it was not a coincidence that my father, Rajgooroo Ramsarah, who was a guruji (Hindi teacher), turned out to be my teacher for some time. It was a quite fascinating experience, because it helped me see a different aspect of my father. I thus realised that the way he treated his students was just as he used to treat me at home. He was more than a teacher because he would not prepare them solely on the academic basis but for life as a whole. He would give them advice and so on. Maybe, this was due to the fact that he was a priest.
Just before I left primary school I came across another great teacher in Standard V, Miss Domrah. What I liked with her was the way she was with children. She had a real love for giving attention to children. Besides, the other thing that struck me was her beauty. She was so pretty! She would always dress very well and was a very distinguished woman.
Later on, I moved to Lady Sushil Ramgoolam SSS (Triolet) for my secondary education. There, Mrs. Rambowun was my home economics teacher, and what was remarkable with her was the fact that she would start with the most basic elements to facilitate the understanding of pupils. It was the first time I would understand how positive the influence a teacher could have on pupils. She would do everything she could to take the young girls out of their cocoon, since we were very shy then, as she was highly supportive towards us.
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The second teacher who undeniably comes to my mind is Mrs. Balasoupramanien. Again, she would do everything to break the shyness among us youngsters. Moreover, she would make us strive forward. Then, a teacher to whom I owe a lot is my French tuition teacher. I was really bad at French. But thanks to her, I managed a distinction in French. I will always be grateful towards her for the way she contributed to this success.
When I look back, I realize that those people I just talked about were not merely teachers. I think they were there to shape our personality and turn us into responsible citizens. But if I have to choose a best teacher, I think I will stick to my father, as it was such an experience to see my own father share his bread with people of my age and see him advise them on different issues.
Nonetheless, when I recall time, I know I used to obey him, regardless of what he said. But now, whenever he says something to me, I always expect an explanation or a justification!
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