Eight years after he moved to The Bahamas a 54-year-old Guyanese was recently honoured with a Teacher Of The Year award from his school’s administration for his demonstrated leadership and teaching skills during his tenure at the institution.
And while Godfrey Williams did not get the nudge for the Teacher Of The Year award for the entire Commonwealth of the Bahamas he told Stabroek News in a recent interview that the mere fact that he was given the award by his school, TA Thompson Junior High School, was a great achievement.
Williams, who moved to The Bahamas in 2001, received the award and other gifts in October at the school amidst pomp and ceremony with Governor General Sir Author Folkes being on hand to present the award. He explained that he has been named teacher of the year from 2010 to 2012 and said each school usually names the teacher of the year and that person automatically becomes a nominee for the national award.
“It was an honour to be nominated and it is something that every teacher wants. Outside of the perks that came with the award it was a wonderful experience,” Williams, who was still basking in the glory, told Stabroek News.
He said to receive such an award means that he is now elevated to a class of teachers in The Bahamas who all are dubbed ‘teachers of the year.’ The school has some 70 teachers and 820 students.
“Just being nominated showed that my peers recognized the contribution I made to the school and to the nation,” he said, adding that he got recognition from the Minister of Education and other government officials.
When he moved to The Bahamas in 2001, Williams joined the staff at C.H. Reeves Junior High where he spent seven years before being transferred to the TA Thompson as the head of the department for technical studies. During his stay at CH Reeves Williams served as the Year Head/House Coordinator from 2003-2008 and was honoured for his attendance and punctuality and his “exceptional, dedicated and invaluable service beyond the call of duty.
“Gone are the days when the contents of the classroom and the methods of teaching are limited to the confines of the walls,” Williams said.
He listed the above as part of his philosophy and he added that the resources that link continents and present vast access to enormous information are available and “ought to be rightly incorporated into our education system, as they are very familiar tools to our charges.”
He added that as teachers they should ensure that their end products become citizens who can take their rightful place in society, making meaningful contributions globally.
“All who enter my classroom of technical studies should not only be exposed to the large community of knowledge that is available through the world wide media, but also be encouraged and motivated by the limitless benefits and opportunities of current information technology. This is my philosophy of education,” he said in his speech of acceptance.
Williams has been teaching since the early 70s and became a trained teacher in 1978 after which he taught at the Bartica Secondary School among others. The last school he taught at in Guyana was Richard Ishmael Secondary. Before he left Guyana he was a technician at an engineering company named Nurams, which was a family-owned business. He applied for the job as a teacher in 2001 and after he was accepted he moved to the island with his family: his wife Audrey and children, Temsy, Jay and Tevyn. His older son, Dominique, remained in Guyana.
