Former acting chief education officer of Guyana Genevieve Whyte-Nedd has died after a prolonged period of illness.
Expressing condolences, Minister of Education Priya Manickhand shared that Whyte-Nedd served the nation “quietly and with pride and left many, many solid contributions.
“You can see her legacy in those left behind her like her son, the beautiful Ossie, himself an educator,” she continued.
Apart from Ossie Nedd, the late educator’s daughter Dr Nicole Nedd-Jerrick heads the Enmore Polyclinic.
After some 40 years as an educator, a journey she began at the age of 15, Whyte-Nedd retired at the pinnacle of her career in 2015.
In the court of public opinion, there was a consensus that she should have been confirmed in the position of chief education officer and there have been many debates about that not becoming a reality. However, when asked about it during an interview with this newspaper in 2019, Whyte-Nedd had said: “I am a God-fearing woman and the same God who plotted my path throughout, He knew why He made it end that way… I just want the public to know that I am striving and wallowing in the goodness of God. Since I retired, I am just wallowing in the abundance of God. He has been taking care of me… I am an intelligent, wise, black woman…”
During the interview Whyte-Nedd had described her life as fulfilling, stating that she had achieved many things through her belief in God. Importantly, also, she had seen her two children become respected professionals themselves. Her widower Aubrey Nedd, is also a retired teacher.
Functioning at a senior level in the Ministry of Education, Whyte-Nedd had worked directly with three former ministers: Dr Dale Bisnauth, Dr Henry Jeffrey and Shaik Baksh and she had descriptions for all three of their tenures while she was directly under their supervision
“Each of those ministers had their own profiles [and] temperament getting things done,” she had recalled. “Minister Bisnauth respected me a whole lot and utilized my skills. Minister Jeffrey, he never called me Mrs Whyte-Nedd, he always called me Lady Whyte-Nedd… He gave credit when it was due and when we fell out, we fell out, but we fell back in because he was my superordinate and I gave him the due respect.”
As regards Baksh, under whom she retired and who many believe should have confirmed her in the chief education officer position, Whyte-Nedd said they had their “little brushes” but “at the end of the day, he too was my superordinate and I made a conscious effort to show respect to him.”
As a young teenager, Whyte-Nedd, while a student of Golden Grove Secondary School, wanted to become a lab technician following a tour of the laboratory at the Georgetown Public Hospital. She did well and was on stream to get her dream job, but her age was the stumbling block as she could not have been employed at 15.
The eldest of nine children, her parents having divorced, she decided to get a job to assist her mother in supporting her siblings and the only one available was trainee teacher. Thus began her career in education at what was then the Ann’s Grove Methodist School. She lived in Ann’s Grove and remained in the village until her death. At the time of the interview, she said she had “dual-citizenship” as she was born in Linden before moving to the East Coast village.
Whyte-Nedd held several key positions in the education sector, but many of them were in an acting capacity. In 1999 she started acting as deputy chief education officer (Development) and was later appointed to that position in 2001. She held that position until she started acting as chief education officer in 2001.
When she finally exited the sector, Whyte-Nedd related that she did so without any pomp and ceremony and that was her request. She prepared for that day long in advance and so the handing-over process was short, and she exited the building quickly.
“I remember what I was wearing on that day,” she had said. “I remember the colour of my handbag. I prayed before I crossed the road. I went into my car and I called my son and I said, ‘Today is my last working day and I want you to drive’… And that is how I exited the Ministry of Education,” she had said during the interview.
