“Let’s take back our schools!” This is the fervent cry of Mrs Roselin Murrain nee Farquhar, who seems either to have been born with teaching abilities, or had been such a model, capable pupil, that even in her earliest days at school, the teachers always made her take on class responsibilities like marking registers, taking care of daily and weekly attendances, and even being in charge of classes during their brief absences.
She grew up with the idea of pursuing a career in teaching. Her first application to the Ministry of Education for a job earned her a teaching appointment at Bolans Primary School where, according to her, she was privileged to work with a gentle and caring Junior Four class teacher who gave Roselin her Daily Preparation Book, so that she could follow her lesson plans as she taught. She would even pause in the course of a lesson to enquire if Roselin had any questions to ask. She also gave her practice in planning and in teaching lessons that she supervised and discussed with her afterwards.
Beside Bolans, she has taught at Antigua State College, Teacher Training Department; Clare Hall and Princess Margaret Secondary Schools, before she received promotion to principal of Newfield, then New Winthorpes, where she is presently stationed.
Mrs Murrain is of the opinion that while the general situation or atmosphere in schools today, with regard to equipment and appliances, has immensely improved, the standard in many instances is a far cry from what it use to be; and this, in her opinion, is due to factors like these: -
1 While many of today’s teachers boast about the number of subjects they have, they don’t know and they don’t want to learn how to teach. In fact, they are clock-watchers. They are not dedicated. They concoct all kinds of excuses to stay off the job, and they don’t expect others to do otherwise. She became fully convinced of this when she was slightly indisposed, but still went out to work, and a teacher from whom she expected better asked her, “You can’t stay home? Your husband pour cold water on your bed?”
2 Many parents are too busy to take an interest in their children’s education. It is even a problem to get some of them to collect their children’s reports. You would have thought that now that the children are provided with textbooks, they would appreciate the luxury. Instead, it is like casting pearls to swine. In many instances very little care is taken of them, and parents do nothing about it.
3 Many children are not taught obedience at home, and at school, teachers have a hard task getting them to show what they know nothing about. With the extensions on their hair and nails and with mother and daughter wearing the same style of dress, tight pants and the like, they are made to feel big, and in class they act that way.
Although the struggle is great, Mrs Murrain is trying her best to improve conditions at her present school. One of her projects is the introduction of the House System. This is not the first time that this was introduced. Mr Garfield Royer, the school’s first headmaster had introduced it, the houses being named after Abraham Lincoln, America’s eighteenth president, George Washington Carver, a negro scientist who was responsible for finding out products to make from peanut and sweet potatoes, and Aggrey about whom I cannot remember anything, and cannot get any information from encyclopaedias.
Mrs Murrain, on the other hand, has named the houses Royer, after its first headmaster, Mason after a later one and Hampson after one of the pioneers who insisted that the Americans presented the New Winthorpes Village with a school as compensation for re-siting their village in order to construct an army base, during World War II.
“What about those bright ideas that our ministry officials purported? Can you recall the brilliant thoughts which were voiced before they entered the ministry? Who has stifled them?”
Mrs Murrain asks these questions, then gives this admonishment to persons who are interested in raising the standard of education in our schools: – “Fight the good fight! Many outsiders are ready to assist! We will teach, and those in our care will learn! Let’s take back our schools!”
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