Petersfield, Westmoreland

On May 16, 2007, the Board of Management of Petersfield High School was awarded the best school improvement plan for western Jamaica by the National Council on Education (NCE).

But it was only one of a list of achievements the school has made in recent times, under the able guidance of Reverend Dr Basil Chambers, who took over the institution in 1999. He brought it from the brink of deterioration to the success it is today.

“When I came here it was like animal farm. All that was left was for the students to come sit in this chair and run the school,” Chambers told the Oserver West, indicating his black, swivel chair.

He noted that daily fights and indiscipline were the order of the day at the time, and recalled that friends asked him if he had gone mad. But he was just what the school needed.

Armed with a Master’s degree in Human Resource Management (HRD) and his Christianity, he set out to change the culture at the rural educational institution.

“This school has turned around 360 degrees,” the principal said proudly.

With a youthfulness that belies his 60 years and an undercurrent of boundless energy, one can see how Chambers managed to achieve the impossible at Petersfield High: motivate staff and students, while developing a culture of success.

Petersfield High is now ranked fifth in Mathematics on the island among newly upgraded high schools by the last Ralph Thompson survey; and 90 per cent of the 74 teachers on staff have degrees. Fourteen among them have Master’s degrees.

“Most of the training you get in HRD speaks to the training and development of people. When you train, you retain your workers,” said Chambers, who will retire from teaching in August.

He boasted that even his secretary had recently received her degree in teacher education, as did the secretary before her who is now pursuing an advanced degree.

“You know that if you are with Basil Chambers you must prepare to soar and succeed,” he said.

At present, Petersfield High boasts the youngest heads of departments across the island and it is testament to the HRD principle of performance above tenure. This is not to say that mature staff members are not also at the helm of the institution – Janet Jackson is one such staff member.

Last year, she sent up 11 students, for the first time, to sit Electronic Document Preparation and Management (EDPM) at CXC, and all 11 students returned distinctions. This year, the school is sending up 36 students to sit the examination.

The institution also has two centres of excellence: a state-of-the-art Cosmetology Centre, and a Machine Shop and Welding Centre, which serves students from other schools in the area.

But of all his achievements, Chambers prides himself on having incorporated the school vendors into the school family. Three years ago, even with some opposition from the school board, he was able to move the vendors from the gate to a section of the school compound.

“I didn’t have full support, but now they know they are valuable stakeholders,” he said, noting that there were fears the school’s tuck shops would suffer.

Instead, he said the tuck shops now sell more than ever.

“That shows you the power competition in regulating the market,” he joked.

The vendors also contribute to the development of the school by paying $200 a week for selling on the premises.

Meanwhile, success has been the hallmark of Chambers’ life, from his early days in Springfield, St Elizabeth to his years at MICO Teachers’ College and the University of the West Indies (UWI), where he completed his Master’s in 1997.

The first of 12 children, he first learned the tenets of success from his father whom he described as a hard worker who, although not wealthy, worked hard to ensure his children were taken care of. He also learned responsibility at a very young age, and helped his parents to send his younger sisters to school.

He recalled that unfortunately his father was more interested in the education of his boys than his girls and knowing the importance of this, he stepped in to help.

“I sent my younger sisters to school. I remember a wise old man telling me at the time that if I help them once, then I won’t have to help them for the rest of my life,” he said, adding that his efforts had paid off.

It is this same philosophy that he has adopted at Petersfield that if you do a good job of educating youngsters now then you won’t have to worry about them later.