This teacher deserves the nation’s salute
‘Teachers are visible Gods’ the saying goes. The validity of this saying became veritably palpable not only to me, but also to all the numerous near and dear ones who flocked to empathise with our beloved friend Gernal Mayakaduwa on his wife’s unexpected demise.
The tranquility of the picturesque hamlet of Balagoda, a few miles away from Galle City, was veritably stirred when the versatile teacher Nanda Maitipe went on the flight of no return on January 25.
Her ladylike decorum won the laurels of all and sundry in the vicinity. Even the boughs of the trees saluted her bending towards her little abode; her feathered friends virtually sang a sorrowful tune as a token of gratitude for feeding them lovingly.The blue sky seemed to share a pact with the wind and the sun to bless her with quietitude on this day of profound mourning.
She graduated from the University of Colombo in 1975 and earned her post graduate qualifications of teaching from the same university. She cut her teeth as a well-qualified teacher immediately after her graduation. She was posted to Balagoda Maha Vidyalaya as a graduate teacher and many were the children who learnt under her and came off with flying colours. Teaching was her forte. What I realized from this great teacher is that like doctors, good teachers are not made, they are born so. Her gait, dress-sense, witty utterances, and to cap them all her preparation for lessons made her the epitome of a modern teacher.
Her specialty was Sinhala. She deserves the nation’s salute for guiding many children in learning Sinhala. How she taught ‘Selalihini Sandeshaya’ will always be a memorable experience.
I would fail in my duty if don’t quote a few lines composed by one of her students. ‘ Selalihiniya hari rasata gayanna Tawa ekaserayak evidin yanna’ Nanda was born with a silver spoon and generously helped out in projects that uplifted the village. The late M.L.Appuhamy her businessman father and her mother E.J.Kumarasiriwardene would have been proud to have seen what she had achieved. When she bid adieu to her teaching career at Sri Rathnasara College Baddegama, she was only two years shy of four decades of service. I would like to end with the following: ‘ So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, So long lives this and this gives life to thee.’ (William Shakespeare [1564-1616] Sonnet 18). Piyadasa Rillagoda