Beetham boy to St Mary's

THE EDITOR: What a joy it was to read of the success of Gabriel Claverie, student and resident of Beetham Gardens, in obtaining his SEA placement at St Mary's College. The positives are more than we may imagine looking only on the surface.

It must have been quite distressing not to be able to repeat at Sacred Heart Boys RC School, which he attended from Infants. It should be noted that a child is entitled to education at the school of choice, including repeating SEA.

The Beetham Gardens Government School must be complimented for accepting him. Likewise his mother and Claverie himself were focused in deciding to resit the exam. His pledge to his mother, Kizzy Danclar, and her presence and support reaped success.

This year's results revealed great stories including Sidara Akalloo of Grant Memorial Presbyterian School, who pledged her determination to obtain her first-choice school despite her well-known and challenging medical condition.

Our students are resilient and we have to continue believing in them and instilling belief in them. We have, as a nation, seen their resolve and determination time and again, like our daughter Vera Bhajan of Felicity some time ago.

Claverie's success is via his hard work and he did not achieve because of any mediocrity exam, as one stakeholder seems to suggest.

This story leads me to suggest to all parents, teachers and students that they see the film The Queen of Katwe, a true story of a village in Uganda. That film has great and noble lessons for all stakeholders in education. The village was poor but the students were motivated to achieve.

Beetham Gardens is like the Hyatt hotel in comparison. The utterly disgusting claim to performance being based on residence is ill-conceived and so often used as an excuse for poor school performances.

This is a story of mother and child persisting as they pursued and achieved excellence and refused to stop believing in themselves.

Claverie, for you “the journey now start.” We must follow him in his aspiration to becoming a brain surgeon.

Congratulations, mom, son, school and community.

LENNOX SIRJUESINGH

retired principal