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December 28, 2025
December 27, 2025
December 27, 2025
When Rajendra Deonarain of #70 Village, Corentyne, Berbice, stepped into the University of Guyana Berbice Campus for his final year of the Bachelor of Education Degree (Science) programme, he never imagined he would walk back out as the 2025 Best Graduating Student.
“I thought a lot of people would get the 4.0 GPA,” he said with an easy laugh. “I just worked.”
Rajendra, an Assistant Master at Skeldon Line Path Secondary School, said his biggest academic hurdle was research. Not the scope of it, he quickly clarifies, but the scale. It was his first time tackling a research project of that size, and the unfamiliarity felt overwhelming at times.
“There was never a point where I wanted to drop out,” he said. “But I did feel overwhelmed… especially with the research. I was kind of lacking in that area. So it was all about learning, developing.”
Still, he pressed on. He had learned discipline early and relied on it fully, starting revision two weeks before exams, avoiding last-minute cramming, honouring his commitments to his students, and showing up for classes—most of which were in person—even when the commute from Skeldon felt like a journey through chaos.
Some days, the road to Tain was so nerve-racking that the thought of attending class brought unease.
“Some of these drivers… they drive really, really dangerous,” he admitted. “Over the speed limit. And that’s something I don’t like.”
Yet he went anyway. Every single time. Because at home, someone was rooting for him. Someone who, in his words, “does everything for me. Every single thing”—his wife.
Rajendra described his wife as the backbone of his journey, managing the home, supporting his long hours, and holding up every piece of life he couldn’t carry while studying.
His parents, friends, lecturers, and even the memory of his days at Skeldon Line Path Secondary School also formed pieces of the support system that steadied him. But when he speaks of his wife, the gratitude is different—a foundation, not just a pillar.
Balancing teaching at school and studying at university was “hard,” he admits plainly. At the same time, he said, “we just gotta do what we gotta do.”
For Rajendra, success was never a stroke of luck or a sudden burst of brilliance. It was the sum of discipline, humility, and a support system built on love. It was showing up every day, even scared, even tired, even unsure of how to properly conduct a research project, and choosing to keep going anyway.
His advice to those coming behind him: “anything you start, any program… it’s difficult. You gotta be disciplined. You can’t sign up for a program and then complain. You know exactly what you’re signing up for, be discipline, do your work and everything will be okay.”
Deonarain receives his certificate on stage
