Empowering Through Lifelong Learning: From Hardship to Humanized Supervision

Supervision emerges from the fusion of our life experiences, encounters, and the continuous journey of lifelong learning.

Precious and determining advice from an old man: “You will study and become an educated man!”

I was born in a very poor family, with a socially disadvantaged background, with my father having abandoned me with my mother at the age of 2. My earliest recollections place me in a situation where my mother, younger sister, and I lacked a roof over our heads during the formative years of my childhood. We would secure a place to sleep in any available home in the neighborhood; when that wasn’t possible, we resorted to sleeping under the open sky amidst the sugar cane fields, sustaining ourselves on plain rice with salt and oil, or sipping water from soaked boiled rice. I am of African origin. A turning point arrived when my mother and I encountered an educated Hindu family. On a particular day, the grandfather of this family, hailing from an urban region of Mauritius, handed me a book and declared, “You will study and become a well-educated man!”  This triggered me to study seriously at the primary school, even though my mother was a sugar cane field labourer and she stopped her primary schooling in the second year. She did not know how to read and write at all, not even her name!

Education as a personal, intellectual and professional transformative power

When I passed my primary school education examination with two Cs and two Ds, we were so impoverished that my mother could not send me to the secondary school of the locality because she could not afford to buy my study materials. Two teachers from the local secondary school were canvassing parents to send their children to the school, and when they came to our place, I cried so much because I wanted to pursue my studies at the secondary level. The two teachers were successful in convincing my mother and I could attend my secondary education, without any pocket money, wearing the old “blouse” of my girl-neighbour as my school shirt and walking to school through the sugar cane fields. Despite grappling with these challenging circumstances, a transformation unfolded within me during the second year of my secondary education. My self-assurance burgeoned due to my promising academic outcomes, and my Mathematics teacher recognized my potential, appointing me to peer-tutor Grade 11 students while I was in Grade 10. I was often called by my teacher to go and teach other students how to solve Mathematical problems. I finished my secondary education Cambridge University O level examinations with an A in Maths and French and Bs in all other subjects. Based on this good academic performance, I got admission to an excellent secondary school to study further towards completing A-level examinations. but I could not go there as it was far from my place and my mother could not afford to pay my daily bus fare. My mother stopped my schooling and asked me to look for a job. When the Public Relations Officer of the local White-owned sugar factory received my application letter to work as a messenger, he recommended that I should not be working but studying with the factory financing my two last years of secondary schooling. All my school expenses were covered by it, and I succeeded the Cambridge University A-level examination.  I became a primary school teacher in a Catholic school, though I had the quest to study further, French and Economics being my subjects of interest. So, I was studying a short course at the Alliance Francaise when I met a former teacher who provided me with a piece of paper with the address of the University of South Africa and he suggested that I start a degree through distance education. When I was in my second year of studies in Economics, in one of the tutorial letters, it was written, “Education is not given on a plate; you must work at it.” These words convinced me that I should give the best of myself to succeed and progress in life. From then, in all the remaining exams in Economics, I received a letter of outstanding achievement from the Department of Economics that I was among the Top 5% best students. I also did Sociology as an elective module and I learned that education is the only key that may help a socially disadvantaged person to succeed in life. From the BA (French and Economics), I kept on studying as a lifelong learner to pursue successfully a PGCE, a Hons B Ed, an M Ed, and a D. Ed from UNISA, from 1998 to 2016.

Through lifelong learning, a strong belief in your potential and every personal goal becomes achievable!

What motivated me to continue to study was that my mother and little sister were illiterate, and I was living and am still living in a deprived area with many street children, and unemployed parents. It was a dream for me to continue studying till I get a Ph.D. That would be satisfactory and give me a sense of achievement out of the person I was born and up brought with hardship and sacrifice. This lifelong learning process, through the earnest belief in my potential, framed my perspectives of success in life, whatever the circumstances we live in. Nothing is impossible; everything is possible and achievable as long as we believe in ourselves! Once we have set our target and are determined to achieve it, no one can stop or prevent us from persevering to achieve it. Today, I have become a strong person, assuming all I do and who will leave no stone unturned to make things happen in any of my endeavors.

I started my lifelong learning journey after my marriage and I became the father of my first child when I was doing my D. Ed. I started with much enthusiasm and determination but with my professional commitment as a primary school teacher, the fatherhood commitment, and the extension of my small house to accommodate a new child, I neglected my D. Ed research for a year until my supervisor phoned me to inquire about my progress. He insisted that I come to UNISA to discuss my studies and spend some time with him at the university to read through the scholarship on my research topic. I came back to Mauritius with all the reading resources I needed for the literature review and methodology chapters, and I significantly progressed to be awarded the degree in the remaining three years.