With 13 grade ones and two grade twos, Maria Lisa Thakurdin of Jacklow is top hinterland scholarship student .

Growing up as a child along the Pomeroon River presents many challenges as well as opportunities. Travelling to school is usually frenzied as children often travel far distances by boat, at the mercy of heavy rains or hot sunshine. Such travels also incur a financial burden on parents, many whom are unable to meet this demand. These harsh realities sometimes force students to abandon their dreams of a quality education; but there are those who eventually defy these odds.

Like Maria Lisa Thakurdin, of Anna Regina Multilateral School; she earned 13 grade ones and two grade twos at this year’s CSEC examinations. In addition to being one of the top five students at ARMS, which includes the country’s two best performers, Thakurdin of Jacklow, Pomeroon, a traditional rural farming area, is this year’s top CSEC hinterland scholarship student.
She secured grade one passes in Mathematics, English A, English B, Integrated Science, Social Studies, Human and Social Biology, Economics, EDPM, Agricultural Science, Office Administration, Principles of Business, Principles of Accounts and Physical Education. Her grade two subjects are Spanish and Information Technology.

“I feel so happy and excited – but a little shocked because I didn’t expect to do so well,” an elated Thakurdin told Guyana Times Sunday Magazine in an interview. But while the sixteen year-old now celebrates her success, her journey has not been relatively easy.
School experiences
Born Sept 13, 1996, Maria is the eldest child of Calvin Thakurdin, a farmer, and Indera Thakurdin, a housewife; and big sister to brother, Ken. She attended the Jacklow Primary School where she wrote the NGSA a few years ago and earned a place at Queens College, placing 13th overall among Guyana’s best NGSA performers for that year. Then she also emerged top NGSA student for Pomeroon and the hinterland, gaining a government scholarship.

But excited as she was to earn a space at QC, considered the country’s top premier secondary school, her parents decided Maria should attend ARMS, located in the Essequibo district. This decision is quite common in the Pomeroon: parents opt to send their children to schools that are situated closer to home instead of choose relocation as a result of NGSA allocations.
However, for Maria this meant hours of daily travelling by river and road to get to school. “It was fatiguing… stressful, but eventually it became enjoyable as I got accustomed to it every day,” Maria related.
Some days she was lucky to get a “passage” (a free boat ride with family or relatives) from home in Jacklow to Charity; other days she used the commercial boat service. Maria then had to take a minibus from Charity to ARMS. She left home as early as 7.30 hrs in the morning and would return late in the evenings. The travels incurred a daily expense of about $1,000.

The situation was challenging but Maria was undaunted. She remained focused on her studies and continued to perform well throughout her school years, always securing the highest grade in her class. She acknowledged the support of her parents, especially her mother, who stayed up late at nights with Maria as she studied, and who actively participated in school-related events.
With an overarching desire to excel, Maria said she was further motivated by her parents and teachers. She began taking extra lessons for mathematics and English A in Form Three. By fourth form, she was taking extra lessons for all subjects not only in the afternoons after school but during her lunch break. While some of the lessons were private, some were free of cost, offered by Maria’s subject teachers at ARMS.

“The teachers gave us free lessons outside of the school curriculum. They took time off of their schedules to give us extra teachings so I am very thankful for that,” Maria highlighted. The headteacher, she observed, directly supported students too.

Crucial days
Coming up to CSEC, the experience became more challenging for Maria. Already burdened by extra lessons, the School-Based Assessments (SBAs) and regular in-class assignments kept piling up. Maria had to spend many hours late in the nights, sometimes way up into the morning, to get the work done in time for submission. There is no electricity in the Pomeroon, and while Maria was fortunate to have solar powered electricity, there are children who are not so lucky. They often resort to lanterns or battery-operated flashlights to do homework and study.
Nevertheless, it was still a struggle for Maria. “My mom had to wake me sometimes….I barely got to sleep. Sometimes I barely got three hours of sleep,” she reflected.

Today though, her efforts have paid off and she can advise other hinterland students to “…study hard, focus on your education and make the best of every opportunity.”
With a passion for banking and finance, Maria plans to further her studies in economics at the University of Guyana. She has already been accepted to Republic Bank’s apprenticeship programme, and plans to pursue this opportunity in the meantime.

While Maria celebrates her success, so is her entire community of Jacklow and the wider Pomeroon. She has clearly demonstrated that notwithstanding the challenges in hinterland areas, children can rise above obstacles and perform on par with their peers from coastland areas who can access better facilities.

Source: (Guyana Times Sunday Magazine) https://www.guyanatimesinternational.com/?p=28032