I have just stumbled upon that photo in the Royal College Curepipe Friends group on Facebook.
What can I say? The photo brings back a lot of fond memories. Having spent eight years in the college, I had the pleasure to have a lot of them as teachers. Let me try to remember their names:
- Miss Dupont (who really understood immature boys),
- Miss Gopaul (Ruby or Castafiore pour les intimes),
- Mrs Runghen (one day I will remit to her the tens of French essays due…),
- Mrs Nabheebuccus (who I didn’t have as teacher but who, as you can easily imagine, we were all appreciative of…),
- Mrs Jeewoolall (who did Social Studies with us),
- Mrs Chunnoo (who was the mum of one of my classmates),
- Mrs Girdhari/Fulena (who we all revered when we were Form I kids),
- Mr Mungur (a very nice Economics teacher who I still meet from time to time),
- Mr Subadhu (an excellent Chemistry teacher who knew how to deal with rebels),
- Mr Boolaky (whom I liked a lot even though I don’t remember what subject he taught),
- Mr Ng Wong Hing (an excellent Physics teacher who now is at the Ministry of Education),
- Mr Law Pak Chung (who was my Biology teacher in Form V),
- Mr Beeharry (Carlos pour les intimes who I am ’cause we are related),
- Mr Ramsurrun (the very well known Hindi teacher — he saw very very little of me…),
- Mr Harmon (the hood aka wood teacher),
- Mr Amandine (the desperate music teacher who played guitar really well),
- Mr Saverethiar (a very severe Maths teacher),
- Mr Mawjee (an English teacher if my memory is right)
- +
- Mr Wan Hok Chee (a formidable Maths teacher who does not seem to appear in the photo)
And, of course, the rector and his deputy:
- Mr Gopaul (who was instrumental into making us Royalistes. I distinctly remember him coming to our Form I class on admission day and telling us: “You are the future of the country”. From very early, we were groomed to (depending on the point of view) become spoiled brats or people with the capacity to contribute a lot for the development of Mauritius.)
- Mr Rampadaruth (the enforcer of discipline except that, if I remember correctly, we all knew how to disappear when he got near. But I have to confess that he managed to get me twice: (1) when I was in Form II, I left school on the sports day to go and play Pac Man. A friend, Henri, told him and he came to fetch me. I got a Saturday arrest. (2) In Form IV, I showed Hansley how to break the legs of a table to fabricate a drum kit. For some reason, he gave both of us an arrest for “damaging school property”.)
I wonder whether it would be possible to organise something where we could all meet again. Maybe for the next Old Royals meeting?
This should be a 1989 photograph, I reckon (although there is a small chance it could even have been taken in the latter part of 1988), since by the time school resumed after the end-of-year holidays and festivities in January 1990, Mr Gopaul was gone, having been transferred (to RCPL, if my memory serves me right) and was replaced at RCC by Mr Paul Bancilhon (Totol). The latter, by the way, passed away in December 2018. I read that he was in his early eighties when he died.
Coming to the picture itself, I remember most of the faces, including a few that you haven’t mentioned in your post. For example, to the left of Mrs Girdhari/Fulena in the first row, there’s Mr Gungadin (Biology teacher). To his left, wearing glasses, is Mr Bhagoban, who taught Economics, whilst behind him, there’s Mr Seedoyal, who was one of our GMD teachers (alongside Mr Harmon, whom you do refer to above) from Forms I to III. The dark-complexioned guy behind Ms Gopaul/Mrs Ramloll/Castafiore is one Mr Nageshwar whom, I believe, lived in the East of Mauritius. He taught me Accounts in Form IV in 1988. To his left is Mr Reesaul, who was an Arts teacher, whilst right behind Mr Nageshwar, and to the right of Mr Beeharry, stands the other Arts teacher who was working at the College at the time. I, however, do not remember his name.
We can also see Mr Beegoo, Maths teacher, standing between and slightly behind Mr Mawjee and Mr Boolaky. To the latter’s left is Mr Ramanah, who taught English I think but I can’t be sure of that as he never taught me personally. That said, he was often a ‘replacement teacher’ when someone with whom we had classes was not present.
Behind Ms Dupont and Ms Gopaul is a PE teacher whom I simply knew as Mr Marc – no idea what his full name was. To his left, the man with the moustache was also from the PE Department; his name was Mr Reshad Nowrung. To his left is Mr Ameeruddin (who also stands right before Mr Wan Hok Chee in the shot), my French teacher for a year or two. The chap to the right of Mr Mawjee, I recall, was one Mr Mewa. He taught Mathematics. Behind Messrs Boolaky and Ramanah, in the blue jacket, is Mr Joypaul, who was an English teacher, but he never taught me.
The Muslim lady who is in between Mrs Nabheebucus and Mr Rampadaruth used to teach Chemistry, and I have recollections of her being nicknamed ‘Souval,’ due to her long hair I imagine. Here again, I have forgotten her actual name. Of course, we can also clearly see Mr Jocelyn Chan Low in the image, in the second row from the front.
I stumbled upon this page, Avinash, whilst trying to google information about our teachers at RCC, but not much came up unfortunately. I’m happy, though, to have come across this post. The picture is indeed priceless. It brought back some incredible memories.
Hope you’re doing good, otherwise. Cheers!
Yes, I’m doing great. Thanks a lot for your very extensive and interesting comment ðŸ‘
Hello. My daughter is in grade 10 at Royal port louis. Can u recommend me a teacher who give tuition in maths, addmaths, english, english literature and french , plz
No. I don’t know much about tuitions.
None of my kids ever took any tuition (neither at CPE/PSAC, SC or HSC, except for l’Alliance Francaise which was not offered at school). I was a teacher for many years and I sincerely think that most kids can learn by themselves without needed any tuitions (except for going out to meet friends…). It is just a question of having a work plan (a calendar) and working regularly. No need to spend thousands upon thousands in my opinion…