RALPH LALTOO
LIVING LEGEND OF
CLASSROOM LITERATURE RECOUNTS THE: WEALTH OF A TEACHER
Prior Beharry
Sunday Guardian
April 9, 2000
Page 5
|
He
moulded the minds of several students at Naparima College who were to become
prominent citizens of the country. They
include Anna Mahase and Zalayhar Hassanali; Dr. Allan McKenzie; a principal
of Naparima; James Leewah, a vice-principal of Naparima and dramatist; Carol
Goptie, principal of one of the leading private primary schools in South; and
Ewart Thorne who went on to become a Senior Counsel. |
Ralph Laltoo has been described as a living legend and one of the
greatest English Literature teachers of all times.
At
84 years old Laltoo, who has taught in classrooms at Naparima College, Queen's
Royal College (QRC), North Eastern College and Victoria College in the
University of Toronto, still speaks like a literature teacher. He spouts Shakespeare and Milton with ease
and his pronunciation is impeccable.
Residing
in Canada for the last 30 years, Laltoo and his wife, Majorie are in Trinidad
on a short visit.
Anna
Mahase, a former student of Laltoo, describes him, "numbering among the
greatest English Literature teachers of all time. He his a living legend in his own right."
Another
of his students, former First Lady Zalayhar Hassanali, said that Laltoo was the
best English language and Literature teacher she has ever known. She said that he always took a keen interest
in the lives of his students.
Laltoo
was born on September 28, 1915, at Diamond Village. His father, Henry, was among the first Indians to be ordained as
a Presbyterian Minister.
He
was the first child of his father's second marriage. His father's first wife had died. The two marriages produced 11 children and Laltoo said that there
were never any distinctions among his siblings as to who was a stepchild or
not.
He
attended the Rock River Canadian Missionary (CM) School (now Penal Rock Road
Presbyterian School). He still has a
picture, taken in 1922, of him and other students, by George Adhar, the only
photographer in San Fernando at the time.
He
entered Naparima College on September 17, 1928, and five years later received
his School Certificate with honours.
He
placed first among the students at Naps and eighth in the colony. He then taught as a student teacher at
primary schools in Canaan and Riversdale and entered the Naparima Training
College for teachers in 1936. In 1937,
he graduated after placing first it he colony in the examination.
In
January 1938, he was assigned to the Rio Claro CM School and after seven months
he left for Canada to study at Dalhousie University in Halifax.
He
spent five-and-a-half-years in Canada attaining a BA in English, Latin and
French and a Masters in English.
In
Canada, he was a student at Ontario College of Education and taught at Victoria
College in the University of Toronto.
He
chose Canada, he said, because Europe was unstable with "a lot of war
mongering."
Returning
home in 1943, he joined the staff at Naparima College eventually becoming the
Dean of Studies and the Head of the English Department.
In
1953, Laltoo was appointed as English Master at QRC and left an indelible mark
in persons like Hart Edwards, who won a special prize from the United States
Embassy for an essay on Abraham Lincoln.
Other students that Laltoo recalled were journalist Keith Shepard,
broadcaster Dave Elcock and mas man Peter Minshall.
In
1961, Laltoo was given the opportunity to establish North Eastern College,
conceptualizing the school's coat of arms and its motto.
He
was the North Eastern's first principal and left in 1964 to become the
principal of QRC. At North Eastern he
taught Winston Cooper, now a senior superintendent of Police and Horace Scobie,
who went to QRC and won a scholarship; Matthew Toussaint who became a diplomat;
Brenda Sylvester, currently in charge of the pharmaceutical section at the
Sangre Grande district Hospital; Idris Gaberial, now a retired primary school
principal.
He met
his wife Majorie while a student at Naparima.
The Principal of Naparima, Rev. V. B. Walls had asked some of the boys
to help with the props when students from Naparima Girls' High School put on a
scene from Shakespeare's As You Like It. Majorie said that she played Celia and the couple's friendship
and love blossomed. They married in
1949. They have one daughter, Heather,
49, and two sons - Hayden, 45, and Hans, 44 - all married with children and
living in Canada.
On retirement,
he migrated to Canada, passing 11 years as a senior English lecturer at the
Shelburne Secondary School.
Today,
he is involved in charity activities in the Masonic order, which raises over
one million dollars every year to help crippled children in Canada.
He said
that no material reward is as rich as teaching.
He was
full in praise for the roles, which his teachers - J. Hamilton Maurice (the
first president of the Senate of Independent T&T) and Rawle Ramkissoon (who
became a director of Education) - played at Naparima College.
Along
with Gandhi and Mandela, he admires Winston Churchill, as exemplars of the 20th
century.
"I
saw Churchill when he visited Trinidad and I also saw him in Canada during
World War Two - don't forget I lived through the war, you know."
He is
writing his autobiography so his grandchildren "could learn about my
past."