I have known Uttam Bissoondoyal for almost four decades. My first contact with him dates back to November 1969 when he interviewed me as a candidate applying to join the Teachers’ Training College (TTC) the following year. At the TTC, he was the favourite lecturer or best tutor for most students and teachers will easily recall that, at that time, the principal of the college was Mr Curé who commanded high respect among all of us. The other lecturers were Suren Bissoondoyal, Ramesh Ramdoyal, Freddy Sakir Mrs Lamalétie, Miss Venkatasamy, Miss Minton and others who were subsequently to occupy key positions in other educational institutions like the MIE, the MCA, etc.

Uttam Bissoondoyal was in charge of teaching “Principles of Education” and his class was the one, which students awaited most enthusiastically every week due to the acumen and wisdom that he displayed in his lectures. Unlike other lecturers, he did not choose to dwell solely on his subject. In the course of his talks each week, he would refer to topics like literature, philosophy, culture, history politics, economics, sociology, etc. In those days, the political spectrum of the country was largely influenced by the MMM, which gathering momentum as a political force. Uttam Bissoondoyal spoke on diverse subjects that appeared new and challenging, like Panafricanism and leaders, like Nyerere, Nkrumah, Nasser, and other freedom fighters like Mahatma Gandhi, Pandit Nehru and Lall Bahadoor Shastri.

During his lectures, he kept making continuous references to writers like D. H. Lawrence, Charles Dickens, Thomas Hardy, Victor Hugo, and others and he would keep encouraging and provoking his students to borrow books from the library of the college. In this way he inspired and motivated them to discover the world of books and to know the works of writers not only of the West but also of the East and of African origin. To my knowledge, he was the first person to familiarise my generation of primary school teachers with the history of our country, talking to us also about the struggle of slaves and indentured labourers.

The need for change in the education system was another topic he used to mention and in the same year, 1970, the name of a class was changed at the TTC from John Locke to Villiers René and obviously this change was introduced to give recognition to Mauritian teachers who had made a remarkable contribution to the progress of education in our country. It appears that at the same period names of other dedicated and committed teachers like Jean Lebrun were given to educational institutions.

Some years later, when the Mauritius Institute of Education, (the MIE) was created to replace the TTC, Uttam Bissoondoyal was chosen as head of one of its departments. In 1979, when government took the decision to appoint a commission on primary education, he played an important role to formulate its recommendations. That report was known as the Frank Richard report. As a union representative, I had the opportunity to depone at other committees on education reform at the MIE and I recall that he was also a member of the committee that produced the report on nine-year schooling, which was later known as the Ramdoyal report. There is no doubt that, as a respected and prominent pedagogue, he must have contributed to the Masterplan and the Action Plan. He succeeded Dr. K. Hazareesingh as director of the Mahatma Gandhi Institute until 1999, when he retired from government service. In 2000, he was appointed chairman of the PSC and I also had the privilege of meeting him at the MIE as a member of the Academic Board and later as a council member of the same organization.

People have spoken about him as an erudite or a sage. Teachers knew him as a brilliant lecturer and an excellent pedagogue. But those who have known him more closely will always remember him for his affability and his gentle manners. I take this opportunity to present to his wife and family my most sincere condolences.

<B>Jugdish LOLLBEEHARRY</B>