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Aseneth Edwards - A true veteran

By GEORGE HENRY, STAR Writer

contributed - Aseneth Edwards

spaldings, clarendon: ASENETH EDWARDS HAS done 52 years in the classroom as a basic school teacher. She retired recently but just does not seem to want to stop doing what she has been doing for the more than five decades ­ preparing young minds for the other levels of the education system.

She taught hundreds of young children at the Peckham Basic School in north west Clarendon, where she was the principal for several years. Mrs. Edwards told THE STAR that her love for teaching started while she was attending primary school. She said she decided in her primary years that she wanted to become a classroom teacher.

"Upon leaving primary school I worked in my mother's shop and attended evening classes. While I was in my community I observed a lot of small children going around the place and because I was active in the area and I was serving on a community-based organisation committee, I told members that I would like to become a basic school teacher and there it began when I was only 19," said Mrs. Edwards.

To have served for 52 years as a teacher at the Peckham Basic School was a pleasure for Mrs. Edwards, who told THE STAR that she loved every moment spent in the classroom. She said she taught voluntarily for more than 20 years without fussing about money, because all she wanted to do was to ensure that the children in her community received a good start to their education.

No fee

Although Mrs. Edwards was told by even members of her community that she should charge a fee for teaching the young children, she pointed out that she did not charge the six pence that she was told to charge, because parents in those days were not able to pay. She decided she was still going to teach them, as she wanted the practice to become the best teacher she could become.

The veteran basic school teacher made it clear that she also got encouragement from a number of persons in her community to continue teaching the children, despite not being paid. She said most of the encouragement came from her mother, who told her that if she loved what she was doing in the classroom she should continue to do it.

Mrs. Edwards noted that to teach the children was a joy, because she has lived to see many of them doing well in Jamaica and abroad. She noted that there have been many occasions when her former students return to see her and to say thanks for the teachings they received from her. Many of them, she points out, continue to visit her to say thanks for what she did for their parents who were unable to pay her for their education. This makes her proud, she said, as she did not allow six pence to stop her from providing young children in her community with the opportunity to acquire a good early childhood education.

Greater gifts

Mrs. Edwards said the payment she did not receive from the children's parents was no big deal, as the grateful students have on numerous occasions presented her with gifts several years after leaving Peckham. These gifts were worth more than the six pence that the parents could not afford.

Not only is the veteran teacher presented with gifts by her former students, but they phone her from all over the world, most times telling her how grateful they have been for the opportunities she gave them to become worthwhile citizens.

"I went to America to look for my granddaughter and some of my former students called me when they heard that I was there. The phone just kept ringing and some of them just said, 'Teacher just talk and let me hear your voice'," she said. To young basic school teachers Mrs. Edwards had these words. "Work hard and love the children and take care of them. Do not worry too much about the fees they should pay but do the work for the sake of Jamaica and for the children's sake," said Mrs. Edwards. Mrs. Edwards, who still visits the basic school, said she finds herself still giving assistance to students as well as the school's new principal, because she is still in love with helping young children.

She is the mother of two sons and the grandmother of a number of grandchildren, all of whom she taught. One of her grandsons, who she said she was very instrumental in getting to work hard to become a serious student, is presently a medical doctor.