‘Esther Rawlins was a consummate educator’ – Dr. Singh

Please see full statement from the Ministry of Finance below:

(June 9, 2022) Senior Minister in the Office of the President with Responsibility for Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh, today paid tribute to former Queen’s College Deputy Headmistress Miss Esther Cecelia Waveney Rawlins at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception on Brickdam and Camp Streets during a funeral service for the late French teacher. Ms. Rawlins retired from the College in 1989 as Graduate Deputy Headmistress and she was a teacher during the period that the Finance Minister attended the institution.

“Indeed after her retirement in 1989, Miss Rawlins a consummate teacher continued to teach hundreds for many, many years to come and indeed after the turn of the century. She literally shaped and molded the minds of the thousands of students who passed through her hands, “Dr. Singh related.

He added that he came to know Miss Rawlins when he joined Queen’s College in 1982 and she taught him French at CXC.

“She not only imparted language lessons. Miss Rawlins was not just a teacher of French grammar       but she taught us lessons that would prepare us for life. She was an outstanding teacher and a caring and compassionate human being. The love that she extended to her nieces and nephews, I have to say to members of the family you may not have realized it, but you were enjoying the care and passionate love that literally hundreds and thousands over successive generations also enjoyed. Because of the disciplinarian that she was, each and every one of us will look back at the role Miss Rawlins played in shaping our lives. We will all forever be indebted to Esther Rawlins, not only for the formal education that she gave us, but also for the very important lessons in life that she imparted upon us.  She was an educator of the highest caliber, Dr. Singh said.

The Finance Minister, on behalf of President Irfaan Ali’s administration, further recognized the contributions the teacher would have made over the years to the teaching profession in Guyana as a whole.

Miss Rawlins was a dedicated teacher who began teaching in 1955 as an assistant teacher at Tutorial High School. She later joined Queen’s College in 1973 as a foreign language teacher prior to retiring in 1989 as Graduate Deputy Headmistress with a total of over 25 years of service in the profession.

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