A cut above the rest | Mortice Primary School teacher instrumental in developing his community
Inderjeet
Persaud
(Carl Croker
photos)
Inderjeet Persaud (Carl Croker photos)

By Michel Outridge

OFTEN, the saying goes, it is not what we do, but it is how we do it, it is a true saying. When it comes to giving back to society, schoolteacher Inderjeet Persaud has been doing a lot behind the scenes to home-school children during the COVID-19 epidemic.

The 54-year-old told the Pepperpot Magazine that he would distribute worksheets weekly to the 12 pupils in his class.

Inderjeet Persaud with his freshly picked water
coconuts

Once a week he would allow six of them at a time to go to his house where he has wooden benches and practise social distancing, hand-washing, wearing of face masks is necessary and sanitising to prevent COVID-19 to school them.

It is something he does of his own accord because he is aware that the children need guidance and the face-to-face interaction is vital to promote learning.

Persaud added that on-line teaching is not working out in the community because they do not have a reliable internet provider; and they would have to buy data and use their cellphones to access the school work and it is costly.

With this in mind, he started the home-schooling once a week for six of his pupils and he would go over classwork and mark their completed worksheets, identify weak areas and go over it with them.

“I would also do my own printed materials and gave [sic] it to my pupils free of cost, because I know the position they are in terms of accessing on-line classwork,” he said.

Persaud stated that whatever he is doing for the children he wants to do it as his way of giving back to society and even though it is not blackboard teaching, he is, however, reaching out to the children through worksheets and other printed handouts.

The Wash Clothes resident related that the challenge with on-line teaching is that internet connectivity is really bad and the children cannot access the classwork.

Inderjeet Persaud’s harvest of mangoes

Persaud explained that his son is a student of the University of Guyana (UG) and he would have to find $7,000 weekly to access his school work via the internet on his cellphone, because the internet provider is unreliable and it is a paying service monthly.

The teacher stated that he became a teacher because of his humble upbringing from his father, who instilled discipline and the way to a good life is to be simple, humble and honest.

“I patterned myself according to my upbringing and it has proven to be successful so far, and I became a teacher because it is a noble profession and it is my way of contributing to society,” he said.

Persaud disclosed that his father was a rice farmer, a very hard-working and simple man, who passed away 20 years ago; he has acres of prime rice lands, deep into the Wash Clothes community.

He pointed out that after his death, he left that residence and came out to settle at Wash Clothes with his family.

Persaud reported that his father’s lands are still there and they have cultivated fruit trees on the land which has no house.

The father of one noted that when he completed secondary school he wanted to become a soldier, but his parents would not hear of it. He was the only son among eight sisters and he was encouraged to try another profession, so he became a teacher.

Persaud has another side to him, he loves cricket and is a cricket commentator professionally and works with the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC), Guardian Group of Company and One Caribbean Radio and National Communications Network (NCN).

Within recent times a lot of young people from the community have become career-oriented and that is a plus for the village.

Persaud revealed that there were 176 pupils registered at the Mortice Primary School, but today they have only 62 and it is due to migration.

He started his teaching career in 1989 and he taught most of the young people in the village, who grew up to have meaningful lives with good jobs.

Persaud told the Pepperpot Magazine that the village has produced some top performers out of the school system over the years and pupils continue to excel and attend Grade ‘A’ secondary schools.

“Mortice Primary School has talented dancers and they have won many competitions at the national level and their drama group is also gifted and have [sic] performed well on stage,” he said.

Part of his garden at home

Persaud reported that the community has produced doctors such as Seema Dhanpaul and Roman Chalmoosai and attorney-at-law, Chitrarakha Persaud.

He is also the Chairman of the CDC in the village and they are in the process of being registered with 35 members.

They wish to foster development within the village and the first plan is to have a multi-purpose building for skills- training for youths and women.

The CDC would like to equip young people with a skill, so they can become empowered to earn and own their own small businesses.

Persaud is also chairman of the local board of Guardians in Region Five, a position to which he was recently appointed.
Persaud’s first love is planting and when he is not in his garden tending to crops, he is schooling children at his home.

The greens and fruits he gets from his garden are not for commercial use, but is shared with neighbours and friends and used in his own kitchen.

Persaud has a few beds of cabbage, peppers, boulanger, thick leaf calaloo, bora, cassava and pumpkins, among other vegetables.

He has used every available space in his yard and in front of his yard to plant and also has some budding flowers which add a bit of colour to his surroundings.

“We nice here and I don’t sell the greens, but that’s not my intention, but share it and the gardening is my spare-time activity. I find real joy cultivating the land,” he said.

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