 They have served and served well. They have helped shape character and personality, yet allowed creativity and individuality. They gave their lives to the education system. This is Reminiscent and this is their story. I became a student of the R.C. Boy School in 1948. Actually, I was born in Monropo, a delirious sandwich between Pascius and Puale. At four years, I refused to go to a primary school which was run by one Miss Dean, the Smiths. I said I didn't like that school because it was looking too old. And the reason was that I had seen that big school in Castries. So when they asked me which school I'd like to go to, I said the big school I saw in Castries. Well, during the process, I smashed the slit they had bought for me. And I smashed my brother's slit also. And I was whipped that day by my grandmother, who was the one who attempted to bring me to school for the first time. But from the time I got to the R.C. School, I was a happy student. I had some very good teachers like Miss John, Miss Snack in the infant section. In the primary school I had people like Raymond John, both husbands, Kenneth Combee. There were one or two I was afraid of, I would mention. But certainly there was one in particular that I was very afraid of. I didn't want to go to his class. But then I went through all the classes up to standard seven. And by the time I got to standard seven, I obtained two standard six certificates. And I was just bored. And fortunately for me, the principal in those days, you call him head teacher, not Augustine, Matthew George Sinclair, was an astute person. He recognized my boredom. And he actually called me from the class and told me he wanted me to be a teacher. I didn't choose to be a teacher. I was chosen. My Matthew George Sinclair. What he did was to tell my mother that he wanted me to be a teacher. And you can imagine the amount of joy and relation. My mother was so happy. She said to me, So I reported to the principal that my mother had agreed. And that was it. The following day he sent me to teach with one serial. And from that very day, I recognized that I had it in me to become a good teacher. Not just in order, but a good teacher. And he sent me to study with guys like Teacher Joe, Morgan, Augustine, and a few others who were then first grade teachers, what they call PT-1s. As a monitor, well, I had no books. I read their books. I read their notes. And I wrote my first exam, teacher's exam, as a monitor. And I passed. And I never looked back. But that same year, Mr. Sinclair was transferred to Bexo and was replaced by Augustine Sinclair, another Sinclair from Labry. We called him Red Head. We called him Red Head. The other names by which he was called, but we called him Red Head as a nickname because his head was red, his hair was red. So we called him Red Head. And he found me there as a PT-2, having passed my exam, but not being appointed. And he was the one who recommended me to become appointed as a teacher. And that was in 1959. So that is how I became a teacher. I passed all my exams, went to become a CEO, a certificated assistant teacher, which qualified you to become a principal as a certificated assistant teacher. You qualified to become a principal or head teacher as it was called at the time. And went to teacher's college in 64-65 and returned to the ROC. I taught at the senior school for a little while when I had to replace somebody. And the manager, who was Father Guru at the time, came to me consistently and asked him to recommend somebody who can be trusted. What happened as far as becoming a principal is concerned. I lived at Ravinch about at the time. And when one afternoon the manager, who was Father Guru, came home. He says, good afternoon, Mr. Fahir. He says, good afternoon, Father. And what brings you here, as far as I know, Father, it is only when there is somebody who is very sick and entitled to extreme unction that please visit and we had a good laugh. He says, no, I have not come to administer extreme unction, but I have come from a board meeting of the Catholic management. And they have asked me to ask you to hold on at the school because Mr. John, who was acting for Mr. St. Clair, who was at the time in England, had been accepted to study at the University of the West Indies. I said, Father, are you serious? You have been asked to ask me to hold on for Mr. John. I told him, straight, Father, I don't think I'm interested. This hold on thing you're talking about, Father, I don't think I'm interested. He says, okay, Mr. Fahir, I know the situation, I understand it perfectly, but they have also asked me to give you time to consider and you have as much as two weeks and you would appreciate it by then you tell us, give us a positive response. But I was subjected to so much pressure, starting from my wife, who told me how people love to be promoted and I'm getting it on a silver platter and I'm refusing and I'm being rude to the priests and all that. I said, well, if you think you can do it, you should have told the priests to give it to you since I didn't want it. But then because of the pressure, eventually I succumbed and I told him, yes, Father, I think I'll do it. Having agreed to do it, I decided to give it all, to give it my all and I never turned back. Well, I had taught for 10 years in all and I thought I was a principal for 28 years. So I gave to that school the total of 38 years. You could do a job like this without having challenges to face. Among them, the children. The children came from so many different areas. Very, very difficult areas like Marsha, Wilton Yard, areas like Conway and even some of the areas that were considered good areas. You got children coming from them, problem children. Children whose parents worked at hotels and who saw their mothers only when she was off, mothers who had to leave before they got up from sleep and who came back home after they had gone to bed. You had numerous problems with parents whom you called to the school to speak with and who ignored you. I had to do some fieldwork as a principal. There was this boy, for example, who refused to tell his mother that I wanted to see her and I had to borrow Mrs. Kadetsuka and go to Lager. You need to find that the boy lived very near to Lager. So there were always problems. There were problems with parents who did not understand what it was to be a good parent. I got a lot of opposition from some parents. I had problems with some teachers who thought they could do things their way and not the way they were taught because they failed to realize that we all went to the same training school and I knew how to do a lot of the things that they were required to do and when I found them doing the opposite, I had no choice but to trust them. Like I remember any time you would be taking a five, sometimes as a teacher you're tired, you go on the balcony to take a five and you would just say, the keys. That was a signal that the boss was around and trust me, no matter how bad we thought we were when you heard those keys, boy, you just got back to your station because the great sheriff, that's how you call him affectionately, the sheriff was in town and so when you heard the keys, you knew that was time to cut off your slackness and get back to work. I visited classes regularly. I did a lot of clinical supervision. I wanted to know what was happening in my classrooms because it was important that people did what they were supposed to do, the way it was supposed to be done. That was the only way you could get results. Mr Farrell would meticulously come around your class and examine every little aspect of what you did. He checked your preparation. He checked how you developed your activities and how you evaluated these activities. Of course, as a consequence, he would tell you many recommendations that he thought you should employ. I also got pressure from some city schools which thought that they had no competition because I had not gone to university. There was competition, as far as sports, as far as scholarships and the only time I think I really got some respect from the particular principal was when one year I was a boy, we had a class taught by Gilroy Sutton and that year the school got out of seven city council scholarships. We got six and the avenue got the other and out of eight government scholarships we got seven and Anglican school got the other. Preparing students for the then government scholarship exam and the CCC scholarship exams. So when he entrusted me with that class, I was saying to Mr Farrell and just a young teacher, why are you putting me through this thing? I suppose you can well go and do your best. Whether he had seen something in me that I did not see, he had grown some confidence and trust, but certainly I don't think I disappointed him. So all these achievements in sports, for example, we were tops in cricket, in football, in table tennis, you know, and I myself personally took an interest in those sports. I played cricket, I played a little football, I stopped when I realized I couldn't kick with my left foot. I've been trained to see why over a long time I gave it up, but I played cricket and I played table tennis. I always liked sports and whenever my school was playing, I was there to support. The first person you saw in the field was Mr Farrell. Mr Farrell never only considered once academic qualifications as an academic background. What was also important to him was the skill that one would also come with. Whether you were able to play football, you were able to play cricket, you were a musician, you had to come with something extra to bring to the school. Because Mr Farrell knew at any point in time he could call on you to help those students who are probably in football, who are into music, who are into drama, into poetry. Just name it, Mr Farrell always made sure that he got teachers who had that extra skill to teach at his school. Sometimes I learned new strategies, new techniques of doing things and what I think I felt short in doing was to communicate that to my teachers. For example, I stopped, I almost stopped using the strap during the last six or five years of my tenure as a principal and I became nickname, Softy. The teachers said I was getting soft. Some of them, not all, some of them. I didn't explain to them why I was doing it and eventually I realized I should have and I did. He was approachable but sometimes in being approachable the question or the answer you would want him to give you was not always that way and so sometimes you would feel he has not answered the question. He is almost like he has kind of dismissed you a bit and so on and you could let him know that and he would understand where you were coming from. I cut down on the amount of couple punishment that I used and what he did was to create a better atmosphere, a better relationship between the students and myself. I used the book where I recorded the minas and I had a lot of dialogue, one-to-one relationship with students who were sent to me for punishment and what I did instead of punishing sometimes I corrected, I had them to sign an agreement sometimes and had somebody in the class to witness as the first offence. As the first offence that I and I, you know, it worked with many of the students, it worked wonderfully and if I could have done that earlier I think I would have been a better person. It came about as a result of training I had some classes and courses with the University of Levbridge in Canada, Levbridge University and as well as Dr. Nicholson from the University of the West Indies so these sessions changed me and had me to look at myself as an administrator in different light and it all got well for the relationship between myself and the students of the school. If I can start with teachers whom I admire one stands out, Raymond John I remember when I refused to write I said I was not going to write my certificate examination in June because I had just passed to become a PA1, PA2, sorry I had just succeeded and I said the six months the exam date was changed from December to June because the school year began in January in those days and then when that change came about I thought I didn't have enough time to prepare for the exam and I said I would not do it but people like Mario Centrose and Earl John and Natto they went and told him so Mr. Fawai said he's not writing the exam and he called me and he had a dialogue with me what he had learnt and I told him yes I said so and I believed I'll stand by it, he says no you're not going to stand by it because I have a plan for you he organized study group and he actually helped us he actually supervised us he actually spent time with us, upstairs in town and I could not run away from it and he I singled out as one of my mentors he really motivated me he taught me as a student and he motivated me as a teacher and insisted and when I succeeded that exam I had nobody else to thank for it but him there were other people I admired people like Mrs. Gill a stalwart in the system who else I can think of Mrs. Thomas was one of those whom I had a very dedicated person a husband too after teacher's college he organized a group consisting of Kodra, Agatha James where we met at the Anglican school these twice a week on evenings to work on the mathematics project we wrote the material as well as lesson plans for those subjects and it was very very very rewarding to see what we did was used not only in our schools in St. Lucia but in other schools in the Caribbean and parts of Africa this is my 15th year of retirement as a principal and I am now enjoying something that I think only celebrities can enjoy I come into contact with young men of course some of them look older than I am than I look but I receive a kind of reception a kind of attention a kind of respect that is second to none not only from the students but from their parents from their brothers and sisters who single me out as the one person who helped to make them what they are I think the only way a teacher can know how good a job he or she has done is after you have met those people whom you touched in society out there at work on the field and this is what I am saying this is a joy many of them remind me of the licks that I give them inevitably you will find that but they are quick to add in most cases that it helped to make them what they are I must say that there are quite a few teachers whom I try to motivate as much as possible to encourage them to move on and to study but as far as the question did you have asked I think what we have now in our system we have many many more qualified teachers in our schools whenever before and the number keeps increasing but what worries me is that I am not sure that we are getting in all cases I know there are some very very dedicated teachers but as to whether we are getting our money's worth I am not sure I think I know some teachers who teach for passion who give their all to it but I am not sure that we couldn't do with a few more of these people in our system dedicated committed to the job the time he met me as my mother I was just about 18 he made it clear to me there is a phenomenon when you go to the bank to receive your money ensure that you have earned every cent I believe that some of our teachers need to be retrained here retrained to get refresher courses so that they can be more effective in the classroom I tell you something my last day at school I put away all the shitjacks that I wore but I kept the black trousers because I could use them anywhere you see those shitjacks I've never worn one I gave them away to the the nuns have a place in the Fuashwe area I gave them all I put them all in the bag and I deposited them and if you see anybody there wearing a blue shirt jacket I find retirement has been very very exciting perhaps because I have I prepared for it one of the things that I have always done is to read I've been an avid reader and I even encouraged my teachers to read a lot the first thing he did for me was to introduce me to some reading material and amongst the reading material that I received from Mr. Farrow were books, novels written by Arthur Haley and I read books like Hotel Airport Money Changers he also had me to read a book called Roots so it started with reading you see what he said in the past a dog is a man's best friend I believe that's for when dogs were different today I think a good book good book has been my best friend and I read I read a lot I also prepared myself by by developing fishing skills I bought myself a boat and I fish and I enjoy fishing I'll tell you why fishing is so enjoyable those two professions fishing and teaching both of these professions are very require one to be very patient and I believe that they are very I believe that's why Christ went among the fishermen he went for because he knew fishermen must have a lot of patience and if he's going to select people to go out and teach as he did they would require very patience so my retirement I have never never had a period of boredom I cannot think of a day that I've been bored honestly retirement has been the best period of my life I couldn't see myself in a classroom although I feel if I go to a classroom I can still be effective and I have been lucky to have been selected as a commissioner among the teaching service commission I was a member of the Kashmir City Council as the deputy chairman and both of these have been challenging eye-openers for me and I've enjoyed doing that I enjoy teaching teaching is a noble profession at one time they called it a vocation you know you had to be special to be in the classroom you had to be an example to the children you thought and not just to the children but to their parents and to the community in which you lived you had to stand up so I might have done it again but I mean I've done certain things differently especially as a principal I had a love for children a genuine love for children I sometimes had to play the part of a father I mean that I had to feed I had to feed some children you know I walked into Wilton yard by the time I came back somebody would have thought that I went to smoke but I went there because there was a guy called Shefer who had a problem and I had to tell his mother I can help you solve that problem send him to school on mornings even if he doesn't have breakfast I'll find breakfast for him and that boy has done well remarkably well and the others who I touched in a special way and helped you know as the people in the canteen look my salary is not very big but give them lunch for me today and when the month ends I'll pay you for my salary you know I would like people to remember me as a loving teacher a caring principal caring not just as far as students are concerned but as far as the teachers who taught with me are concerned I wanted to see them teach well and I wanted to see them move on and be notified and loved by the students also I think we have a very serious problem as a side our students they are the same as in the coffee shop but our students lack so much these days I don't know how we can reverse the trend just watch them in town you wonder whether they have caring parents I don't think I can speak to students now because they might not even they might not hear me and even if they hear me they might not listen they might say what am I talking about but even though you find one or two who might say what am I saying in the studio this country needs we need we need some medication parents need to take control of the children I don't know what is the main cause perhaps now we have more parents who are at work and parental supervision is minimal and in some cases non-existent I think that might be a big problem and so children are easily distracted you listen to their language I hear more course words used by school children now than I hear from others although they learn it from the others but they don't seem to have regard or respect for a lot of things that you and I may have had regard for but the teachers I want to tell them that they have to really pray advice to my teachers is that they pray pray full-ventil meditate ask God to let the Holy Spirit lead a guide in dealing with those difficult those rambunctious children that come to them I know it's not easy and it will not become easier and we must put use God as our guide our hope, our strength if we are to achieve success and all the teachers when we meet together those of us who were led by Mr. Faul I can tell you Mr. Faul is always a topic of discussion remember the good old times remember the things the sheriff did and we laugh and we smile because we know as men these were good things and I do not think to be we will see another Mr. Faul, another principal another leader like Mr. Faul