Educationist, leader Pat Done, 90, dies
DISTINGUISHED educationist, psychologist, social and sports leader Patrick Nandagopal Done, who was a veritable walking encyclopedia, has passed away after battling a long illness. He was 90.
Pat Done hailed from a renowned family of educationists. His foster grandfather JS Done was an Anglican headmaster who arrived in then colonial Natal from Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) to ameliorate the condition of the suffering Indian indentured workers.
In recognition of his work, the Durban Corporation named Done Road in Clairwood after him.
His foster son was Herbert Selladora Done – the father of Pat Done. HS Done was also a great educationist and a distinguished headmaster of Clairwood Senior Boys’ School in Clairwood. In recognition of his contribution to Indian education, the then Natal Education Department named a newly built school in Done Road as HS Done Primary School in 1953.
After passing matric at Sastri College, Pat Done qualified as a teacher. He obtained his BA degree, BEd degree and honours degree in psychology, all part-time. With his psychological background, he was seconded to the Education Department’s School Psychological Services where he administered psychometric tests at schools.
He was promoted several times as principal of primary schools in Isipingo and Chatsworth. He retired from service in 1987.
A friend of more than five decades, Dr Frank Naguran, who himself was superintendent of education, said that as a young boy, Pat Done accompanied his grandmother hawking vegetable in the white suburbs of Pietermaritzburg.
“Even at his tender age, he took great offence when the white madams called him Coolie Boy.”
He said Pat Done was an amateur boxer as well as a scout master.
As a teacher, he put his learning theory garnered from the great child psychologists Jerome Bruner and Jean Piaget into practice. As a headmaster he regularly guided his primary school teachers to put into practice these teachings, especially that of Piaget.
Dr Naguran said: “As a principal, Pat was no push-over. He never bent for inspectors.
“Pat was a very versatile man. Apart from teaching, he was a great sports administrator.
“He was the founder of the Pirates Football Club and served as its chairman for 26 consecutive years. The members of this club still revere him.”
For many years Pat Done served as secretary/treasurer of the Natal Indian Teachers’ Society in Clairwood. He also served on various boards, including the RK Khan Hospital and VN Naik School for the Hearing Impaired.