MRS KM GEORGE: A MATHS TEACHER WHO WAS CONCERNED

FOLLOWING my last post on a teacher, here is another one.

There are some teachers, who are more than just teachers – or, I should say, they have the right spirit and would affect you more than just helping you pass tests/exams.

(Yes, they affect your eternity!)

They teach you more than the subject they were tasked to do. They teach you habits and attitude to study or approach life.

Such a person was the late Mrs KMG – from Kerala, India.

I had her as my Maths teacher for just one year, my Grade 12, but that year made the difference in my choice of studies in years to come.

 Photo: Mr and (late) Mrs KM George taught in PNG in the late 1980s.

You know, she was of the type who really believed you had something more in you and that needed to be brought out.

She did not just tell you, she kept the motherly eye out for you and others, making sure that you completed your homework and had enough extra exercises to do when you have completed all the assigned problems.

(I found out last year when I visited her husband’s website that Mrs KMG was 56 when she taught us. I contacted Mr KMG last year and expressed my deep appreciation/gratitude for his wife's in influencing some of us. Sadly, she passed away three years after she taught us. Incidentally, Mr KMG was my Grade 11 English teacher.)

Mrs KMG keeping her eyes on us made a few big changes in me.

I learned the most important lesson on how to really master Maths at the level you’re at from Mrs KMG because I followed her tip.

She said: “Always spend one hour every day and you will do well in Maths.”

I kept the rule and found my confidence in the subject grow – and that passed onto other subjects related to Maths.

With Mrs KMG watching over, I made sure I completed my homework every evening.

And she knew I did too. When she asked around for answers in class on homework exercises and no responses were forthcoming from my classmates, she’d know that at least one person had made an effort to complete the question.

She kind of counted on me too to give an answer when everybody could not.

(That is not to say I was brighter than the others. No way! There were much brighter students in the class than me. They would go on to become pilots, engineers, medical doctors and Maths teachers.)

Anyway, thanks Mrs KMG for that special one year. I cannot thank you enough.

See you in the future.   

PS. I see myself as having a connection to India because of Mrs KMG. And, I might go there in the next couple of years.