US-based Guyanese Deocalli Ramnarine celebrates 46 years in the teaching profession
US-based Guyanese Deocalli Ramnarine (nee Ramdass) celebrates 46 years as an educator; 27 of which she served in Guyana.
Born and raised in Number 62 Village, Corentyne, Ramnarine is the seventh of nine children of the late Ramdass and Narinee. Her father was one of many prominent farmers in the upper Corentyne region and her mom was a housewife.
Ramnarine started to teach at a very young age in the community as an early childhood teacher. She married Mahadeo Ramnarine and moved to Georgetown in 1981. Personal and professional challenges soon presented themselves where Ramnarine believed she had to choose between her career and raising a family. She was determined to achieve both, but she also recognised the benefits of furthering her own education. Ramnarine enrolled in the In-Service Teachers Training at Cyril Potter College of Education (CPCE) where she later became certified as a teacher. While teaching and attending college, she became pregnant with her first daughter, Reshma. The pressure was stressful, but she was fortunate to have the unwavering support of her husband who encouraged her to continue her studies. She knew that her faith was being tested and she reminded herself that her endurance would guide her to the right path. She also remembered her father’s encouraging advice which was to “find a way to make it work rather than quit teaching”. Within five years of relocating, Ramnarine had her second daughter, Devala, and was a certified teacher.
She and her husband supported each other in their dreams of achieving bachelor’s degrees. He enrolled in the University of Guyana and earned his bachelor’s in Accounting; she followed suit shortly after and earned hers in Education.
Ramnarine taught in many schools in Guyana. In 1990, she became a parttime lecturer and later a full-time lecturer 1 at CPCE. She was also a parttime supervisor at the University of Guyana Faculty of Education, supervising teachers on teaching practice. At CPCE, she worked alongside other faculty lecturers as part of the Guyana Basic Education Teacher Training Project. Together, they wrote the Distance Education Teacher’s Programme for the college which was funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).
In search of a better life and opportunity, Ramnarine and her family migrated to the United States in 2003 at that point, she had worked as a teacher/educator in Guyana for 27 years. She secured a teaching position with the New York City Department of Education within weeks of relocating.