Becoming one of Berbice’s best Industrial Technology teachers

 By Marissa V. Foster
TAMESHWAR Mohabir, better known to his students as ‘Sir Tamesh’ or simply ‘Tamesh’ in social circles, is a teacher at the New Amsterdam Multilateral Secondary (NAMS). He is perhaps one the most inspiring and self-motivated teachers and works beyond class hours to provide quality education for his students. Unlike many, his childhood was like a chapter of a story. At the tender age of three, his father died and left Tamesh and his mother with no steady source of income. Luckily, his paternal aunts and grandmother who resided overseas took the mantle up to take care of them. Through their support he was able to have the basic childhood necessities.

His educational journey began at the Adelphi Nursery School, later the Rose Hall Estate Primary School where after writing SSEE in 2003 and was awarded a place at St. Roses High School. Due to several constraints, he took a transfer and began his secondary education at the New Amsterdam Multilateral School. Here, Tamesh completed CSEC Graduating with Nine subjects from the Industrial Technology Stream after which he completed one year in CAPE Studies. It was during his time in fourth and fifth form at NAMS that his profound love for the Industrial Technology field started to nucleate. This love stems from the amazing work that was done by his teachers especially, Romel Hughes -who to this day is his biggest role model. Tamesh was inspired to become an engineer or architect. Unfortunately, he had to put that dream on pause for a while. After consulting with the then Principal of NAMS, Jackie Benn along with the then Head of Department of English, Shaundel Phillips, he decided to gravitate towards teaching and as such, his career began in September 2009 at the New Amsterdam Multilateral School.

Memories and challenges
Over the last 10 years, he had many memorable experiences with some of the most amazing students. The most satisfying thing about this journey thus far is hearing a student thank him for his guidance as a teacher and for having a positive impact on their lives. In addition, teaching gave him amazing opportunities to be a part of activities and events which helps to foster all-round development of youths such as sports and other co-curricular and extra-curricular activities. On the other hand, there have been several challenges none more so than having to deal with difficult parents who for some reason or the other seem not to understand the key role(s) they, as parents, have to play in the teaching-learning process as well as, some major shortcomings of our educational system. Nonetheless, these challenges did not deter his mind from excelling at his work. To help him with these challenges, he developed a philosophy— “P.U.T” – Patience, Understanding and Tolerance

While teaching has its ups and downs, one of his greatest life challenge was accepting the fact that he would not become an architect/engineer. Initially, he planned to become a teacher and then later venture off to become the first architect in his family. However, Mohabir realised that in life we cannot always get what we wish for and after things did not go according to plans, he felt as though a part of him was lost by losing this dream. He was quite low on confidence and self-belief. Tamesh felt as though he would have disappointed himself, his family, his teachers and friends and everyone else who was associated with him. That lasted for a while until of course he met and gained support from those closest around him. He is filled with gratitude for the amazing students at NAMS as well as, his beautiful wife, his mother, aunts alongside his friends/colleagues. Tamesh stressed that was able to embrace that challenging phase with those names mentioned. Their words of wisdom, encouragement, along with their belief in him repaired the part of him that was broken through disappointed. They inspired him to embrace the teaching profession fully and use it to channel everything he stands for and believe in. He was reminded that one day through this teaching job, he will be able to live his dream and subsequently he joined the Cyril Potter College of Education in September 2013.

Currently, ‘Sir Tamesh’ is functioning in the capacity as Head of Department Industrial Technology at the New Amsterdam Multilateral School – a position he held since September 2015. In the said academic department, he teaches Mechanical Engineering Technology, Technical Drawing, Building Technology and Mathematics at the CSEC level and Building and Mechanical Engineering Drawing at the CAPE level. He also works in collaboration with the sports council at NAMS to oversee the execution of sports activities within the school. He is also currently pursuing studies in Education Mathematics at the University of Guyana.

The upside
Apart from challenges, life has also been quite fruitful for Mohabir with the biggest accomplishment of having a family of his own- a wife and son. He also regards being able to produce excellent pass rates at the CSEC/CAPE for over the last ten years, in particular being able to produce the top student in the Caribbean in Mechanical Engineering at the CSEC exams in 2018. The Industrial Technology teacher has also crowned CPCE Valedictorian in the year of 2015 as well as, the Best Graduating Student in Mechanical Engineering Technician Certificate 1 program at the New Amsterdam Technical Institute in 2018. As if he has not accomplished enough already, he collaborated with Andrew Williams to take his school team to participate in the prestigious Sir Garfield Sobers International School’s Cricket Tournament in Barbados in 2011-2013 and 2016. As of now, his immediate goal for the future is to be the best father he can humanely be for his son and to successfully complete his studies at the University of Guyana. He also wishes to complete the restoration of the Industrial Technology Department at NAMS to suit the needs of the incoming oil and gas industry. Finally, he will continue to strive to be the best teacher he can in moulding the nation’s children, he said.

Advice

Mohabir would like to advise teachers in general to “Try and be the best teacher that they can be. Don’t let the system get to you, be patient, understanding and tolerant. Remember that no child is ‘dunce’. Children learn at a different rate and while some of them may test our patience, at the end of the day we have to be the guiding light that illuminates their path to success. I would encourage my fellow teachers to strive to foster the all-round development of students; it’s not all about the books.” He continued his advice by saying, “To my male colleagues, I know often times we hear the cliché that ‘teaching isn’t a male thing’, but I say to you today that that isn’t true. There is a great need for men in the teaching profession as a large portion of our students comes from homes where the father is absent, so we now need to step in and play the role of a father and guide and mentor these kids as far as possible. We have to be role models for these kids – aid in developing their self-discipline. Yes, I know the money you will get from another profession might be significantly higher but at the end of the day the reward of being able to guide and mentor a child if not more is equally as fulfilling.”