Professor Ameenah Gurib-Fakim Pro-Vice Chancellor at the University of Mauritius

?I grew up in Plaine-Magnien and went to St Patrick RCA primary school. I then applied for Loreto College Mahebourg. But, as there was no Form VI there at that time, when I finished Form V, I did another entrance exam to end up at Loreto College Quatre-Bornes.

I must say I really enjoyed my time at both colleges, essentially because of the presence of the many nuns who were there. In those days, the aim of the teachers was more to make the children develop on both the academic and non-academic levels. Indeed, there were a lot of extra-curricular activities and pupils felt that everyt effort was being made for their personal development. As an example, there were moral values classes. When I recall this time, I perceive that those moral values that were inculcated in me have remained.

Before starting to enumerate the teachers who had a positive impact on my life, I would like to highlight something. It is the fact that most of the teachers I encountered during my time as a pupil did much to encourage me towards the scientific field. Although they were not degree-holders, they were young and very dynamic. More importantly, they were passionate about what they were teaching.

Chosing one ?best teacher? is a very difficult task for me. I was very lucky to have some very good biology and chemistry teachers such as a lady by the family name of Balancy. When I talk about Loreto College Mahebourg; I would like to mention Chantal Dijacques, who was my French teacher and today occupies a high position in a college at Bambous Virieux. For my English classes, there were the nuns such as Sister Theresa. But the name that will remain engraved in my memories is Miss Sylvette, my chemistry teacher. She would walk in and start talking to us with an overflowing ease. Almost 25 years later, I still remember the enthusiasm Miss Sylvette showed. Moreover, what was interesting about her class is that it was not too bookish. She would combine various elements to make her class fascinating.

When I think about Loreto College Quatre-Bornes, there are two names that immediately come to my mind: Sister Anne and Mr Belcourt. Sister Anne was teaching mathematics. She will be remembered for always starting her classes with her famous mental arithmetic. In fact, she would take the first ten minutes of each class to test our accuracy and sharpness by picking on anyone at random and giving her a calculation to do. We would be invited to react in a very sharp way. In addition to this, Sister Anne would always take a very abstract topic and was able to bring it to life. Finally, what was amazing with Sister Anne was that she gave us very good advice about various issues in relation to real-life situations.

One piece of advice I remember is that once she told us, when we went abroad and felt depressed, not to tell our parents. She told us instead to write it down on a piece of paper and unwind ourselves on that piece of paper so as to avoid causing anxiety to the parents. Thus, she wanted us to free our parents from any stress regarding their kids studying abroad. All the pieces of advice of Sister Anne were very important for any young girl and they were very practical and very pragmatic. As for Mr Belcourt he would know how to make chemistry interesting for anyone.

I have only one unpleasant memory of my time as a pupil. This was when I was in primary school. I remember there was a teacher who would give unnecessary punishment. Actually he would use a stick. However, after some time, I understood that this teacher was simply taking out the anger and frustrations of his private life on his pupils!? (Laughter)