Esmina Smith (foreground) teaches her pupils at Bottom St Toolis Basic School in Manchester recently while assistant teacher Claudine Walker (background) also works with the students in the classroom. - Norman Grindley/Chief Photographer

At age 12, Esmina Smith was diagnosed with polio-myelitis, a highly infectious viral disease which mainly affects young children, and hospitalised at the Sir John Golding Rehabilitation Centre for 11 years.

The disease affected her lower limbs and she could barely walk. But, with the rehabilitation Smith received at the facility, she was able to move around with the aid of a stick.

While there, Smith, now 65 years old, was educated but failed to sit her local examinations because she was too ill to attempt them.

However, that did not prevent Smith from returning to her community and establishing a basic school 40 years ago and, even today despite the deteriorating condition of her lower limbs, she continues to impart her knowledge to the children at Bottom St Toolis Basic School in the remote community of St Toolis, Manchester.

"I love children and I feel that I can do a lot more for them so that's why I continue and if I stay home, I'd be bored and the children love me a lot," Smith, who now walks with the assistance of crutches, told The Gleaner during a recent visit to the school.

Smith, who sits while teaching her students, said she at times feels like throwing in the towel but the community members insist that she continues because of the positive role she plays in the area.

"It is a big problem moving around now and I have to get a car to pick me up and drop me to school but, when I see the children come to me and tell me what they are doing in life, you just want to continue," she said.

Students' achievements

Smith bragged that her past students have become nurses, teachers, police and even doctors.

"One is now even a manager of a remittance company in Cayman," said the proud educator with the infectious smile.

The Ministry of Education stipulates that early-childhood practitioners should be trained in the levels one and two competencies in the Early Childhood Care and Development programme, which is being offered through the National Council on Technical and Vocational Education and Training.

Smith recently completed her Level 1 training and is willing to move on to the next level.

Her assistant teacher and former student, Claudine Walker, said the values that Smith instilled in her live on today.

"She is a great teacher. She taught us that the Bible says 'Thou shalt not steal' and many other things," Walker reminisced.

"She is partly responsible for who I am today."

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