Meet Elly Peterkin…
Miss Elly Peterkin
Miss Elly Peterkin

A young head teacher with a vision

ELLY Peterkin is a people’s person and this helps her deal with the resentment she gets especially from the older folks as a result of being a head teacher at just the age of 37. Ms. Peterkin knows what she wants and always keeps her vision of helping each child closely in mind.

At just age 32, she was appointed head teacher of Gandhi Memorial Nursery in Enmore, East Coast Demerara and a few years later at De Kinderen Nursery, Zeelugt, East Bank Essequibo. Just last September, she was assigned head teacher of the Alexander Village Nursery School.

“A teacher must have a vision and know what they want out of the system. If you don’t have a vision, you will perish. My vision is to ensure that each child regardless of race, social background, cultural background, status in society, etc. must be able to obtain the basic education at the nursery level. I would like to make a positive impact on everybody I come into contact with.”

“A teacher must have a vision and know what they want out of the system. If you don’t have a vision, you will perish. My vision is to ensure that each child regardless of race, social background, cultural background, status in society, etc. must be able to obtain the basic education at the nursery level. I would like to make a positive impact on everybody I come into contact with,” Miss Peterkin noted in an interview with the Chronicle recently.

Miss Peterkin (third from left) strives to have a positive impact on everyone she meets
Miss Peterkin (third from left) strives to have a positive impact on everyone she meets

Growing up, she always knew she wanted to be a teacher and this was due to the fine example set by her mother. “I always looked up to my mother as a role model. So I started to teach the posts, the plants, the dolls, the teddy bears. My mother is a very phenomenal woman who, as a single-parent, was raising three of us after my father died. She is very strong. She insisted that we stay in school and provided for us.
This ‘East Coast Girl’ is a mother of three, including a girl she adopted, and has been a teacher ever since she was 16 years old. She was trained at the Cyril Potter College of Education in 1996, got a certificate in ‘Christian Workers Theology’ from the Assemblies of God Bible Institute, and even furthered her education at the University of Guyana where she obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in Sociology and did a course in education management and administration.

With some of the teachers at Alexander Village Nursery
With some of the teachers at Alexander Village Nursery

“I’ve been studying continuously since I left school so I guess that has given me the boost to be a head teacher at such an early age,” Miss Peterkin said.
Though her appointment at times comes with some resentment, she said: “I trust God and apply the knowledge I have gained from all the different institutions. Being a people person helps. I always get resentment because of my age, mostly from the older folks but I said to myself this is expected especially when you go to a school for the first time. You keep your eyes focused on your objective and on your vision and eventually those same persons come on board with you because they realize what it is you have to offer. I don’t allow that to keep me back because I always tell myself I am being paid to do a job.”

No Nursery School
Ms. Peterkin regrets that she was not afforded the opportunity to attend a nursery school herself. Her mom Marcellena was a primary school teacher and took her to the school she was teaching as a “please keep.”
When she was of age, though, she began attending Paradise Primary and then Bladen Hall Secondary where she wrote CXC and started working. As she got older, however, she began to realize the benefits of attending a nursery school.
“And one such benefit is that nursery school provides the prerequisite skills an individual needs such as pre reading and pre writing. I don’t have a problem with reading but I have a terrible handwriting so I would always blame that on not attending nursery school,” she laughed.

Miss Peterkin’s (third from left) goal is to become an Education Officer
Miss Peterkin’s (third from left) goal is to become an Education Officer

“I just looked on and started writing on my own. At nursery school, the teachers help the students form the letters and take them from stage to stage. I didn’t have that opportunity,” Ms. Peterkin continued.

An Education Officer
Miss Peterkin plans to remain in the school system for as long as she can. “As long as the lord permits, I will teach. My life is in god’s hands.”
Being the head teacher of an A Grade nursery school is the highest that she can go in the teaching profession. She explained: “There is no grade higher than ‘A’ and I don’t want to switch from nursery to primary or any other level. That doesn’t make sense. I am all rooted and grounded here already. So there’s no other scope in the Teaching Service Commission for me other than here.”
Ms. Peterkin has therefore been hoping for a way to be opened for her to continue giving her contribution to the teaching system but as an education officer. “So I guess that’s the next step the lord will take me. That’s my goal. It is possible,” she said.
She recently submitted an application to do the cadet course in the Ministry of Education. “I applied so I am waiting on a call for an interview to start the course. I don’t want to remain a head teacher for the next 16 years that I have in the school system,” Miss Peterkin said.

(By Telesha Ramnarine)

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