Amelia Sirgool credits her sound primary education for preparing her for her career as a teacher; equipping her with the skills and knowledge she needed to serve the education sector in different capacities including her most challenging and enjoyable tenure as a multi-grade teacher at Anarika.
At that time, Teacher Milo was known as Amelia Ramsarran and fondly called Abigail. She told Stabroek News that she obtained a sound primary education at the Wales Canadian Mission School where was forced to wait for two years in the sixth standard as she was too young to write the Primary School Leaving Certificate. Her handwriting which remained classical gained the admiration of both students and teachers alike.
On gaining the school certificate, Teacher Milo again created history when she and another student from the same school became the second batch of students to write the Pupil Teachers, Examination successfully. She recalls the privations students endured at the college, having to reduce daily sustenance to one time per day in order to survive on the $35.00 allotted to boarding students, while fulfilling demanding tasks and physical training required by the college.
However, at the end of the tuition, Teacher Milo said she was set to undertake the task that the ministry had in store for her. She said she was proud to teach at her alma mater, which later became known as the Wales Government School and later, the Wales Community High School.
She left in 1985, to take on the challenging role of head teacher at Anarika, a Grade E school. According to her, she had a one-man staff – herself – and was tasked with teaching 85 students. “You have to know your onions,” she said about undertaking teaching at the multi-grade classroom. In those days, the Ministry of Education’s rule that there should be no more than 30 students with one teacher had not yet come into effect.
Her next transfer was to the Grove Primary School which was known as ‘Super A’ grade since it surpassed the 75 students required of a Grade A school, registering some 200 students. It was at this school where she served as Deputy Head that Teacher Milo truly came to grips with the invaluable tuition she had received from her late Headmaster at Wales, Solomon Ishwari Das. She said she took a firm stand to be neutral in a school that was sadly divided among the teaching staff. This position had helped the staff to recognize that the interest of the students was of paramount importance.
Teacher Milo said her tenure as deputy at Grove, East Bank Demerara (EBD) from 1995 to 1998 was very special, and from there she moved to her next appointment as Deputy Head Teacher at Covent Garden, EBD. She occupied that grade B post until she was again needed to serve at Grove where she worked until 2002 before retiring from the profession. For Teacher Milo; however, her tour at Anarika in Essequibo remains her fondest memory and she remains grateful to her own Head Teacher Das for preparing her for the role.
