The Tribune

By TANYA SMITH-CARTWRIGHT

tsmith-cartwright@tribunemedia.net

VETERAN educator and former director of education Zelma Dean died on Friday morning after battling an illness for a long time. She was 84 years old.

As tributes poured in following her death, former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham remembered Mrs Dean as an enthusiastic educator with an unmatched passion for improving literacy among Bahamians.

Mrs Dean served as Director of Education under a previous Ingraham administration.

Remembering her, Mr Ingraham said: “I was saddened to learn of the passing of veteran educator, Zelma Dean earlier today (Friday). I knew her by reputation even before I came to meet her. Stern, dependable, reliable, honest and forthright are but a few of the adjectives that aptly describe this consummate servant of the Bahamas public service.

“Among my early acts on becoming prime minister in 1992 was to cause Zelma Dean to be plucked from the government-operated school system where she was serving as principal at the Government High School and to have her appointed as Director of Education.”

Mrs Dean, a career educator, hailed from the island of Rum Cay. She was known for her no-nonsense take on educating the children of The Bahamas and was dedicated to ensuring that all citizens of this country were able to read.

Mr Ingraham continued: “Mrs Dean, a wife and mother with roots in Rum Cay, was not intimidated by the size of the undertaking nor of her unexpected promotion from high school administrator to education policy maven.

“A mathematician, she applied the exacting and measured training of that field to all her endeavours. She was an enthusiastic educator with, I believe, an unmatched passion for improving literacy among Bahamians. It is no surprise then that the “‘Let’s Read Bahamas’ was one of her brainchildren.”

Mr Ingraham said no one was more disappointed than Mrs Dean that, notwithstanding years of dedicated service by countless committed educators, too many of the products of the government-operated school system were far below the standards of what was expected and required in a small, developing country.

He also said: “She firmly believed that change was required to address the many shortcomings in education. And, she was committed to introducing change unintimidated by the fear of failure.

“Her influence was, if only tangentially, associated with many of the plans and programmes set in motion throughout the 1990s to improve academic achievement.

“Among such initiatives were those creating an education programme for single student mothers and another for troubled male students. She was instrumental to programmes to increase the number of teachers in the system, to improve and increase tuition materials available to students and to the continuous reform of the school curriculum, including technical education to better prepare students for productive lives.”

Still, he said, others involved increasing the number of classrooms and expanding the footprint of the education system so as to reduce class sizes through an energetic school construction programme in New Providence and around the Family Islands. Mrs Dean’s ideas, he said, also shaped the plan for the amalgamation of schools in New Providence and in Family Islands where small student bodies meant that specialist teachers were seldom available.

Mrs Dean also recommended the expansion of pre-schools in the government-school system. Mr Ingraham said several of these would occupy structures left vacant as a result of the amalgamation programme.

Continuing Mr Ingraham said: “Mrs Dean taught in and led a number of schools before taking up her assignment at the Ministry of Education. She has left a sterling record in education where she was widely appreciated. She commanded the respect of colleagues and students alike.

“Among their warm memories of their wife, mother, aunt and friend, her survivors can be justifiably proud of that legacy and of the knowledge that she will long be remembered by her many students, colleagues and Bahamians of all walks of life.”

Mrs Dean is survived by her husband, Audley; children Bahamas Ambassador to Cuba, Brent Dean; Bianca Dean-Willie, Bridgette Dean and numerous grandchildren.