Dr Bobb-Lewis, Tobago's lifelong teacher

Dr Verleen Bobb-Lewis has dedicated her entire professional life to education and helping others.

Even now, at 67, the noted Tobago educator is still working in the sector and showing no signs of slowing down.

Bobb-Lewis said her passion for education began long before she started her teaching career almost 50 years ago.

Today, she said, that passion burns even brighter.

“I see myself as one who just loves to develop and build the capacity of other people,” she told WMN.

“It is never about me. I just love when people do well and succeed. I feel happy.”

Bobb-Lewis was awarded the Public Service Medal of Merit (Gold) for education during the National Awards ceremony for 2020 at President’s House, St Ann’s, on March 7.

She said she felt humbled to have been recognised for her contribution to education in not just Tobago but the entire country.

“I feel really good about that. I feel elated, excited.”

However, Bobb-Lewis admitted she was shocked on learning that she had been selected for an award. She said a fellow Tobagonian had nominated her on three previous occasions.

“He always told me he would never give up because he felt I deserved it.”

Bobb-Lewis has served in various capacities throughout the education sector – from early childhood to tertiary level. She also had a brief stint in school supervision.

During her distinguished career, she played an integral role in the development of sport and culture and sport in Tobago, particularly within the northside communities.

Today, she is regarded as one of Tobago’s leading authorities on education.

In 2003, though, Bobb-Lewis faced a harrowing ordeal, which threatened to derail her career. She took no-pay leave to pursue a first degree in management and supervision at the UWI, St Augustine.

But during her studies, she experienced “unbearable pains” in one of her legs, which was later amputated.

“I was not diabetic but was told that blood was not circulating.”

Despite her limitation, she continued to work. But four years later, while serving as principal of Signal Hill Government School, the pains returned and her other leg had to be amputated.

Bobb-Lewis now walks with the aid of prosthetic legs and is grateful to have still contributed to the development of Tobago over the years.

“After I went through what I went through and almost died in the process of losing my legs, I became even closer to God. I know that he is the one that keeps and sustains. I hold on to that and nobody can move me from that. God kept me for a purpose and I have to fulfil this purpose.”

For the past seven years, Bobb-Lewis has been the technical adviser in the THA's Division of Education, Research and Technology.

Under this portfolio, she is responsible for early childhood care and education on the island among other programmes.

As a member of the non-governmental organisation, Tobago CivilNET, she is also at the forefront of an upcoming education initiative to enable children in communities to think critically.

“Plans are being developed for the roll-out of that programme in a short space of time.”

Acknowledging that not everyone can be doctors or lawyers, Bobb-Lewis said children often possess talents or skills that can be harnessed productively.

“I believe in that. God did not make us to lie idle. He wants us to be fruitful and multiply.”

Growing up in L’Anse Fourmi, a small agricultural community in northeast Tobago, Bobb-Lewis said idleness was frowned upon in their modest home.

Her parents were strict, highly-spiritual people who instilled in their eight children the importance of hard work and sound education.

But life in the village was not easy.

“My mother was a housewife and my father did not have no big job – in L’Anse Fourmi you planted your garden, do little watchman work in the night and you have your cocoa. That is how we grew up.”

After years of struggle and sacrifice, her father managed to build a house in Scarborough so that they could have had easier access to secondary schools after writing the Common Entrance examination (now Secondary Entrance Assessment).

“We came to town as poor black children but still we knew that we came to Scarborough for a purpose – to be educated.”

Except for one of her brothers, who died tragically at a relatively young age, Bobb-Lewis said all of her siblings embraced the opportunity and have continued to excel in their respective fields.

“That is because of the upbringing we had, that education was important. And that is why I am doing all of this now because my parents put everything aside to make sure that their children were well-educated.”

Bobb-Lewis attended the L’Anse Fourmi Methodist Primary School before moving on to Bishop’s High School. She said she was an average student who had to seek private education after leaving Bishop’s to attain a full certificate.

Bobb-Lewis began teaching at 18 and later excelled in training college. She has taught at several schools in Tobago, including Charlotteville Methodist, Scarborough Methodist, Castara Government, Signal Hill Government and Franklyn Methodist (now called Tablepiece Government) in Les Coteaux.

In more recent years, she has also lectured at the University of TT and the University of the West Indies.

As a teacher at Franklyn Methodist, she was deeply involved in sport and was, at one time, chairman of the Tobago Netball League. For 11 years, she also produced Tales and Superstitions for Les Coteaux at the Tobago Heritage Festival.

Her work in culture at the school led to the establishment of the Les Coteaux Cultural Theatre, which performed at several social events in the country over the years.

But the mother of two said her tenure as principal of the Castara Government, which she described as her “best years,” involved “much more than just teaching children in a school.

For Bobb-Lewis, it was about stakeholder engagement.

“It was a community education programme because we used to have the PTA and the other people in the community participating and supporting the school.”

“When there was a sports meeting, every prize came from the community. Every chicken, every fish came from within Castara. That is why I didn’t have to buy anything in Castara. Sports done and you still have boxes of prizes there for another sports because of donations.”

Bobb-Lewis said the billboard bearing her name alongside a dirt oven in the school’s yard is a testament to the relationship she had with the villagers.

She recalled under her stewardship, Castara Government became the top school in Tobago in the 1988 Common Entrance exam.

But the school’s success was not just in academics. Like Franklyn Methodist, pupils were also exposed to various artforms, including stilt-walking, calypso, speech band and carolling during Christmas.

At one time, the students even got the opportunity to showcase those talents on the now-defunct television talent show, 12 and Under.

“That exposure, I think, enables the child and stimulates the thinking and it causes them to perform even better.”

Bobb-Lewis believes it is important for children to have a well-rounded education.

"I don’t believe education is just the books in the classroom. I believe in the all-round education of the child and I have seen and felt the successes of that.”

She also believes that principals and teachers cannot achieve greatness in isolation but must work closely with all of their stakeholders.

“I would like principals to understand that it is the relationship that you build that will make you succeed or fail. I believed in that camaraderie and having everybody on board working with me. The teachers that worked with me in Castara, they are still friends because I realised the relationships were key.”

The success of her approach prompted Bobb-Lewis to pursue a doctorate in school-based management at UWI, St Augustine.

“So, I used to go to schools and show them how to do their development projects. I also did professional development with teachers.”

Asked about the state of education in Tobago, Bobb-Lewis paused before saying, “Sometimes, I pray about it. Sometimes I feel to cry. But sometimes you would see some people do very well and sometimes, I blame myself.”

She said while some principals have formed successful alliances with stakeholders, “There are others who I feel could do better than they are doing.”

The “longtime slave master” mentality, Bobb-Lewis believes, cannot work in Tobago.

“You have to be involved in everything in the school. You have to have a great relationship with your parents. Tobago is a different community in terms of relationships.

“You have to view them in the Tobago way but at a professional level. You can straddle both very successfully. What makes the school go from good to excellent is the relationship you create with all of your stakeholders.”

With a new THA administration in power, Bobb-Lewis said she is looking forward to “lifting the game” in terms of the relationships that schools must build with their communities.

“That is what I am embarking on in my old age.”

Apart from supervising post-graduates with their theses and other projects, the grandmother of four also plans to continue writing speech band pieces and "heritage" calypsos for primary and secondary school students.

Bobb-Lewis, who enjoys interior design, said she loves to have fun.

“I have two liming groups in Tobago waiting to find out why I am staying so long in Trinidad (after receiving her award).”

Saying she loves people and hates seeing them in distress, Bobb-Lewis said she also intends to quietly continue her humanitarian work.

“I doh ever want people to come and say Dr Bobb I eh have no food for meh children. I love to give and see people happy and comfortable.”

More than that, though, she is bent on teaching people to fish.

“I want to go into communities and develop people, those who feel like the world has given up on them. I want to let them know there are opportunities for you.”