Dear Editor,
Many years ago I read the book Daughter of Destiny: An Autobiography by Benazir Bhutto, a former and late Prime Minister of Pakistan. One line from the Introduction has stuck in my memory ever since: “What is not recorded, is not remembered”. This statement was foremost in my thoughts when I wrote the recently published letter, ‘Hindu College played a pioneering role in bringing secondary education to rural students’, (Stabroek News, November 7).
I am pleased that Mr Nowrang Persaud has responded to my letter and pointed out his role in the East Coast High School, the “precursor” which morphed into the Hindu College (‘The Hindu College was preceded by the East Coast High School,’ Stabroek News, November 11 and Kaieteur News).
I still marvel at the thought of a young man of Brahmin lineage conducting Muslim prayers. I am delighted too that, apart from his point that the East Coast High School was the precursor of the Hindu College, he has not contradicted the other points in my letter. I believe both his and my contribution have now enhanced public knowledge of the school, irrespective of name.
I regret that I was not aware of Mr Persaud’s outstanding role in the precursor school and hence did not mention it. I can understand his hurt, but in all his writings in the Guyana papers, to my knowledge, he has never given a detailed account of his role at the school until now. I joined the school when he was about to leave.
He was my English Language teacher for one term and then he left. When I joined the school I knew the name as Hindu College. This example demonstrates the aptness of that quote from Ms Bhutto.
Since 1964, I have had no connection to the Hindu College, the Ashram in Cove and John or any of the affiliates/related organizations in the USA or Canada. I was surprised by Mr Persaud’s concluding sentence in his letter “I try my best to support the school in whatever way I can, despite noticeable attempts to sideline me from time to time.” I recall that a year ago he was honoured by the Pranav Ashram in Toronto, headed by a former brahmachari from the Guyana Ashram (now Swami Bhajananda), which I believe to be affiliated with or related to the Guyana Ashram (‘Pranav Ashram recognizes a prolific Guyanese patriot – Shri Nowrang Persaud,’ Indo Caribbean World, October 1, 2014). For the record, I am not part of any attempt to provide revisionist history or sideline Mr Persaud. I have no interest, reason or time for that, and certainly nothing to gain. I am simply a former student who benefited from the Hindu College and wrote to publicly acknowledge its role.
In an earlier piece on another subject, I wrote, “I have great respect and admiration for Mr [Nowrang] Persaud. For a short while many decades ago, he was my teacher at the Hindu College in Guyana. Later, he gained a university degree then had a distinguished career as a Human Resources Management professional with Bookers Sugar Estates (predecessor of GuySuCo), the Ontario Govern-ment, the United Nations and GuySuCo in that order” (‘Was PM Hoyte granted salary greater than AG in 1984?’ Stabroek News, October 27, 2015). For the few months he taught me, I was very impressed and I followed his subsequent career progression, as reported from time to time. I hope that paragraph informs Mr Persaud of the high regard I have for him.
I note the statement of his belief that “a secular school can better serve a multi-religious student body than a sectarian school which by its very nature is perceived (even if it professes otherwise) to favour a particular religion and despite what its “letter heads, report cards and publicity material” might say as per Mr Hergash’s letter. In my letter I merely reflected the facts as they were. I do not wish to comment on his personal belief except to state that to this day there are schools in Guyana which were started by various Catholic bodies and have names such as St Stanislaus, St Rose’s, St Joseph’s, etc, which maintain close association with their founding organizations but are serving a multi-religious student body. And Hindu and Muslim students are still required to say Christian prayers in schools in Guyana, a matter the Minister of Education is now looking into.
Yours faithfully,
Harry Hergash
