Avocat Vedic School continues to break new ground

REGARDED as the top performing primary school in the St Patrick Educational District, Avocat Vedic School, Fyzabad, celebrated its 65th anniversary on November 1. The school is a district leader in every aspect of its development, be it academic, co-curricular or extra-curricular activities.

It is one of the most sought-after schools in the district by parents of infant children because of its record of excellence.

Teacher at the school for the past 25 years and now vice-principal Rabindra Bachan said he and principal Nirmala Mayrhoo inherited a solid foundation and they have been building and introducing new activities to ensure they maintain and surpass the records.

Mayrhoo has shattered the glass ceiling by becoming the first confirmed female principal of a Vedic school in 2011 and the second past student to hold this post. Her predecessor, Pundit Surendranath Dhaniram who served as principal for 14 years prior to his retirement, was also a former student of Avocat Vedic.

Mayrhoo is continuing to make history in education by breaking new ground.

She has introduced calypso and, more recently, pan to the school's curriculum, recognising that when her students move on to secondary school they are at a disadvantage if they never have the opportunity to explore those activities.

For the first time this year, one of their students, Luke Ragbir, entered the Labour Day Calypso Competition and made it all the way to the finals.

Mayrhoo recalled, “This was a big thing for us. Calypso competition was something we never took part in but it’s kind of breaking barriers and exposing students out of their comfort zone.”

Bachan added, “Sometimes being a Hindu school, you come with a certain tag, so we are trying to break that ceiling and expose our children to everything.”

He said, three weeks ago, the school got a music tutor courtesy the Ministry of Education and the school has opted for the tutor to teach the children how to play the national instrument.

Mayrhoo said the school hoped to establish a "pan in the school programme" with the help of Minister in the Ministry of Education Dr Lovell Francis who visited recently.

Bachan said his greatest desire was to have a student perform the national anthem on the pan at their 66th anniversary next year.

Avocat Vedic has always been a top-performing school, producing students such as current MP for Fyzabad, Dr Lackram Bodoe, his predecessor, Chandresh Sharma and their colleague Tabaquite MP Dr Suruj Rambachan, Chutney/Soca monarch Nishard Mayrhoo, diplomat Chandradath Singh, magistrate Lisa Singh and Assistant DPP Wayne Rajbansie.

Under Mayhroo's watch in 2012, history was created when Victoria Maharaj became the first student to place third in the island in the Secondary Entrance Assessment (SEA) examination.

In 2014 Shivana Chatoor went one step further, receiving the top spot in the SEA and there has been no looking back ever since. In 2016 Michael Beepath placed third in the island and seven of his classmates were among the top 200 students.

Mayrhoo said, “In 2019, nine of our students made it in the top 200 SEA achievers, it is the highest number of passes we have achieved in this category in the school’s history and in the St Patrick Educational District.”

Photographs of those outstanding students adorn the front wall of the school to demonstrate pride and inspire the 75 students who will be writing SEA next year to surpass this record.

“Both teachers and students are motivated and are under tremendous pressure to achieve this feat,” Mayrhoo said during an interview at the school on November 8.

But academics is not the only sphere in which the students are excelling. Just recently the cricket team were announced as the national winners of Kiddy Cricket.

The under-11 team were also declared the zonal champions in the cricket competition while the under-14 team secured the Fyzabad championship trophy as well as third place in the St Patrick Educational District.

A new group of tassa drummers who have been practising for the past eight months, replacing the experienced drummers who have moved on after SEA, gave the Newsday a taste of why they triumphed in the tassa competition in the NGC San Fest competition and placed second in the Republic Tassa Taal competition.

The accompanying dancers also placed second in the dance aspect of the Tassa Taal competition.

Girls and boys of this school have also been dominating the Red Cross Quiz and Practical competition, mental mathematics, Express Word Championship Spelling Competition, Ministry of Labour Poster and Essay competition, OWTU quiz, 4H voluntary Leaders Council Kite Flying Competition, 4H herbs and spices competition and Republic Bank National Primary School Agriculture Science Competition.

Mayrhoo said the school’s success could not have been achieved without the support of the staff, parents, the community and past students who have volunteered their time to tutor students.

“We see value in having positive relationship with our community, because if we could put a product out there that could add value to the community and society then everybody is happy.”