Dora’s headteacher talks about education and the declining community population

THE warm, steady drift of the Demerara River and the quiet escape of the surrounding hills are just a few things that make the community of Dora what it is. The village is unique in its beauty, location, and people. Dora rests on the East Bank of the Demerara River, some 47 miles from Georgetown, a location not shared by many.

The banks of the river and the captivating Linden hills create an environment that embodies the diversity of Guyana. As the community continues to develop, the people of Dora hold onto their roots and community values, making Dora worth the trip.

Marcellus Cornellius is a son of the soil, born and raised in Dora, and returning to the community to become headmaster at the local primary school. For Marcellus, growing up in Dora was like life anywhere else; his mother handled the discipline while his father worked to provide for the family.

As he stated, “I lived with my parents and my siblings. There were seven of us. I would say two of the most responsible people were my parents. Other than when it comes to discipline, my mother was the one that actually enforced discipline. My father…would let a lot of kids play. But when it comes to looking after the welfare of the family, that’s where my father came. So it was well balanced. They were basically like the people in the school. So going to school as a child, the school had one teacher.”

They say home is where the heart is, and for Marcellus, home is where his passion was. After attending primary school in the community, he left to pursue higher education, only to return to help Dora’s children.

As he stated, “I’m not sure where I got the ambition to become a teacher from. Probably that came later in life. But what I can say is that Dora is a community that was always there. It is the number one place for me. Even though I went out afterwards, after I finished high school, I started teaching.”

Marcellus embarked on various journeys before settling on teaching. One of his most prominent jobs before attending university and teacher’s training college was in agriculture, a major livelihood of the people of Dora.

As Marcellus explained, “Before I started teaching, I didn’t actually work on a farm. I didn’t know woodwork. Anything you can think about you used to do at that point in time. So, when a vacancy came for a period at school, my father encouraged me to apply. I stuck with it.”

Attending the Teacher’s College was a big challenge for the young teacher, but graduating was a major accomplishment for Marcellus, his family, and the community of Dora at large. As he stated, “College is like a challenge. Because you have to live here. For the first two years, it was one day a week. So most of the time, I used to walk to College. I had a safe job. So finishing College was a milestone for me.”

He further added, “It was like the first thing to happen for my family. So after College, it took like 10 years before I got to work… Based on challenges, I decided to apply [to teach]. So, after the school, they had a vacancy. And there was a teacher who also told me.”

Job opportunities and population are two aspects of Dora that seem to change over time. Marcellus has been teaching for several years at Dora Primary School. He explained that his class had no more than ten children during the early years. This number has more than tripled today, but this new number seems to be decreasing again.

As Marcellus explained, “After my teacher’s time, she got transferred last year in August. So, in terms of job opportunities, there isn’t really a lot. Growing up, I know we had a lot of people here. When I started teaching at school, I had close to 8-10 children.”

As Marcellus elaborated, the lack of work and the fact that Dora does not have a secondary school means a dwindling population. As he stated, entire families move when children graduate from primary school. “We would find that every time the [National] Grade Six Assessment was written, parents, because of the hardship of finding a job travel every day. Most of the time, a child passes Grade Six, they would pack their whole family out and go just to make sure they attended school. If they don’t, then the child stays back here and doesn’t attend secondary school.”

Despite the challenges, Marcellus and his fellow teachers are passionate about their work and continue to champion the greater good of Dora.