By Damion Mitchell, Staff ReporterPLAUDITS RAINED at the Terra Nova Hotel in Kingston yesterday at a Teachers' Day function hosted by Kingston Bookshop to honour two educators who have given yeoman service to the education fraternity for periods spanning decades.
The two - Norma Hope Darlington, and Sadpha Phillymon Bennett - together have contributed 56 years to the field of education.
Mrs. Darlington who has held the position of Principal at the Shortwood Teachers' College since 1989, was cited as a consummate educator and administrator who has shown an unwavering sense of dedication to her students, staff and her country over her 40-year sojourn in the education profession.
In earlier years, Mrs. Darlington taught at the Montego Bay High School, Dinthill Technical High and St. Andrew High.
While Mr. Bennett has been teaching for only sixteen years, he has positively impacted on the lives of countless persons through his "considerable administrative and management expertise," said Sonia Smith of Kingston Bookshop, in a citation to Mr. Bennett.
Mr. Bennett, a Vice Principal at Ardenne High, began his teaching career in 1987 as a science teacher at his alma mater, Oberlin High. By 1994 he had attained the position as head of the department of Science and Agriculture. He served in that capacity until 2000.
Keynote Speaker, Government Senator Professor Trevor Munroe, while congratulating the awardees said that based on information published in the 2001 Survey of Living Conditions, almost 90 per cent of Jamaican parents viewed Jamaican schools to be "good or very good."
"So those who wish to cry down our educational system, and those who wish to pull down our schools and their achievement do so against the perception of the vast majority of our people," he said.
On Tuesday, Kingston Bookshop also honoured retired Church Teachers' College Principal Beverly Minnot, and Principal of the Bethabara Primary and Junior High School, Travert Spence, at a luncheon held at the Golf View Hotel in Mandeville.
