Outstanding female educators spotlighted
― as DPI celebrates International Women’s Day 2019
DPI, Guyana, Thursday, March 7, 2019
An outstanding educator, Ingrid Trotman who initially wanted to be a nurse, began her career in education 27 years ago. Today, the Bartica-born native specialises in Early Childhood and Development.
Trotman now serves as the Deputy Chief Education Officer in charge of Administration with responsibility for the Special Education Unit, the Parent support Unit, the HIV/AIDS Unit, School’s Welfare Unit, School Health Unit, Health and Family Life Education Unit and Regional Education Officers across all 11 education districts
“After being encouraged at CPCE, that’s where I graduated and got the awards, I felt that there is more I could have done but then I had a tutor by the name of Florence Suhkdeo…she encouraged me and when everybody was going to Botswana and the Bahamas, she said to me ‘Ingrid who will look after the Guyanese children’” Trotman explained.
She further related one of her greatest achievements while working as the Assistant Chief Education Officer responsible for Nursery.
“Being able to lead a team to produce our own books for the nursery level – the Roraima Series – we were able to produce those books successfully and they are presently being used in the schools today,” she added.
The Roraima Reader Series has been specially developed and designed for Nursery level students to inculcate better reading and learning habits.
Meanwhile, at the East Ruimveldt Secondary School, Gabrielle Cummings wears many caps and has been championing the cause of girls.
Delivering life-changing education for two years, Cummings, a trained English Major and Mathematics Minor, currently teaches Social Studies and History and has responsibility for the School’s choir, an initiative piloted by Cummings herself to engage her students in more than just academic learning.
“We have students from Forms One to Five as part of our school’s choir. We recently won first place at the Mashramani competition and it was the first time we participated in it, so everyone was excited,” Cummings said. “I gathered a group of students who claimed that they loved singing and I put them together and we moved from a group of about 10 students and now our choir has over 45 students,” she further explained
Cummings who is also the reigning Miss Emancipation Queen 2018, said that the pageant served as a lesson for her female students, instilling values and confidence applicable outside of the classroom.
“I can honestly say that a lot of them are more comfortable with themselves. Seeing them take up a little bit of what I would have been aiming for when I joined the pageant, I was like okay good, the point got over and it didn’t go to waste…my advice to women is, do what makes you happy, listen to advice but you don’t have to do what people want you to do,” Cummings added.
Nateshia Isaacs.
Images: Department of Public Information.