Anita’s tough PhD journey

With graduation season in full swing, the POST team highlights some of the high achievers. If you performed exceptionally well, email post@inl.co.za for a possible profile

HARD work does pay off. No one knows this better than mother of two Anita Hiralaal, who graduated with a PhD in teacher development studies from UKZN last Tuesday.

While she is thrilled about the achievement, the journey proved challenging.

Hiralaal, 53, of Scottsville, Pietermaritzburg, an accounting education lecturer and teacher trainer at the School of Education at DUT in the capital city, said she was dealt a severe blow in 2011 when her husband died after contracting a liver disease.

“With the support of my husband Prem (an electrical contractor) and my children, I registered at the university in July 2011, but four months later, he passed away. He was only 49,” she said.

“I battled to deal with his death, focus on my job, run our business and oversee his legal affairs.”

In 2015 she took a six month sabbatical from work to focus on her PhD but was again dealt a blow.

“I suffered a stroke, and this affected my eyesight and coordination, which meant I was unable to drive or use a computer. I went for occupational and physiotherapy for six months to get my body functioning.”

A year later, after getting back on her feet, she took three months off from work to focus on her PhD.

“My health was stable, and I joined a support group. I worked extremely hard and devoted a great deal of time and effort to my research and writing, which resulted in me earning my PhD.

“I chose the topic ‘A SelfStudy of My Role Modelling as a Teacher Educator of Accounting Pedagogy’ because I wanted to explore my lived experiences and establish how these impacted on my development because I believe that not only does the past influence the present but it also plays a huge role in the future.”

Hiralaal used her favourite childhood novel, The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett, as a creative non-fiction device in constructing her thesis. She fashioned the fictional life experiences of the protagonist against her lived experiences, giving her doctoral journey a magic-like quality.

“What was most enjoyable was adopting an arts-based selfstudy approach. I am not an artistic person, but I was able to construct collage portraits and found poems. I began incorporating the arts into my daily teaching activities, and the response from my students was phenomenal.

“It made me realise that I do not have to draw or paint like an artist, or produce some fantastic artistic creation, I just had to use whatever resources I possessed personally, and with a little bit of effort and thought, I could be just as creative and innovative as any artist.”

She gave her students the freedom to learn, and in doing so, she feels she was freed.

“Freed from narrow constricted educational values to challenging, wide, innovative and exciting educational values. Not only did my pedagogic practice improve, but I was transformed as a person.”

Hiralaal said she never wanted to be a victim of her circumstances.

“I was determined to complete my studies no matter how long it took and I was not prepared to give up because life threw me challenges. Students who are faced with hurdles and challenges must never let it get them down or discourage them.”

She attributed her success to the support of her son, Shahil, 30, an electrician and her daughter, Shemiera, 27, a businesswoman.