<B>Harold Cham Lam</B>

?I cannot talk about my teachers without mentioning the first one I came across. Someone who inculcated into me some moral values and the importance of certain things, for example the importance of behaving properly and being organized. That teacher I am talking about is my father, who was my teacher for life. Among the huge number of things he taught me was the motto: ?Never postpone for tomorrow, what you can do today.?

During my stay at Central Flacq Government School, there was a teacher by the name of Mr. Chinapayen in Standard 6. He was excellent! His devotion to his job could be explained by the love he had for teaching. Moreover, at that point in time, the head teacher of the school was Auguste Volaire. He also talked to me quite regularly, telling me how to behave and motivating me to work harder. In a way, they were my gurus. In fact, it was mostly thanks to them that I was admitted to ?La School? which afterwards became the Royal College of Port-Louis. In those days, it was situated at Edith Cavell Street.

My memories are still more or less fresh regarding my experience at secondary school. If after school, I did a degree in mathematics, it was certainly because of my encounter with a certain Mr. Kistoe. I was fascinated by his explanations. He made difficult questions look so easy. In the lower forms, one teacher who really impressed me was Mike Seeyave, my Basic Science teacher. He used to do practical demonstrations to illustrate what he was teaching and to show us what he wanted us to see. In addition to this, he would even carry out some simple experiments which were quite rare in those days. When he was doing such things, I felt as if I was in a world of discovery. He awakened in me a passionate interest in the subject.

I cannot forget how good the teachers I had for English were. When I say this, I am referring to Kamlal Gopaul, who today is more than 90 and George Telescourt. I also recall the time I had a certain Mr. Florent as my French teacher. He was tremendous.

I consider myself to have been lucky in having had some fine teachers in the science field as well. Of course, I am talking about guys like Eric Nicolas and Francis Shadien for Chemistry or Clifford Bell for Physics. It goes without saying that I found great pleasure in each of Mrs. Martial?s music classes, because I was simply fond of music. This was one of the main reasons that motivated me to go to camp. I just could not wait for the camp fire to begin as there were so many songs to sing. It was pure joy.

But to be honest, my experience could probably have been different if a young teacher whose name was Percey Sneeden had not been there. He was the one who welcomed us and guided us in our first steps in secondary education. He was teaching French. He was extremely helpful to us. Although it is hard to pick out one teacher and stick the label of best on him, I think if I really had to do so I would say Percey Sneeden. This was due to the fact that his approach was not merely and purely academic. He was a big support in ensuring our transition from primary to secondary school.?