The positive influence of Dr Anna Mahase was not limited to St Augustine Girls’ High School (SAGHS), where she served as principal for 32 years.
The school was the main platform from which she made her indelible contributions to T&T’s education system. Still, the generations of citizens she mentored and inspired during her decades of public service were not limited to the young women of SAGHS and education was not the only sphere from which Dr Mahase contributed to the advancement of this nation.
However, the many glowing tributes being paid to this highly respected educator, who died yesterday at age 91, barely scratch the surface of who Mahase was and the extent of her legacy.
A look back at her long and fruitful life reveals that education was in her DNA. She was the daughter of Kenneth Mahase, a headmaster, and Anna Mahase (Sr), who in 1918 was the first woman of East Indian descent to become a teacher in this country.
Following her mother’s history-making footsteps, Dr Mahase graduated from Naparima Girls’ High School, San Fernando, and Mt Allison University in Canada. At age 28, she became the youngest-ever principal of a secondary school in the Caribbean when she took the helm at SAGHS in 1961. She was also the school’s longest-serving principal.
Dr Mahase’s influential and enduring leadership is reflected in SAGHS’ unparalleled track record of success, which has not been challenged to this day.
The school produces multiple scholarship winners every year, plus several non-academic achievements, and its graduates are counted among the top professionals in a range of disciplines in this country.
This can be attributed to Dr Mahase’s visionary management of the school and several of the innovations she introduced, including a wide range of extra and co-curricular activities, a house system, music and other activities.
Under her leadership, SAGHS became the first school to introduce a steelband and, in 1962, it was the first to host Carnival celebrations.
Dr Mahase wanted to demonstrate to the students that Carnival could be enjoyed in an atmosphere of discipline and creativity, so on Carnival Fridays there was the calypso and parade of the bands.
Top calypsonians were regularly invited to entertain the students and members of the Tacarigua Orphanage Band played at SAGHS and its sports day.
Even with these ample opportunities for fun and games, Dr Mahase was also regarded by the hundreds of young women who passed through SAGHS as a stern disciplinarian. With tough love, she instilled moral and spiritual values in her young charges.
Many who interacted with Dr Mahase over the years, remember her as a woman of great character and personality who was always well-dressed and impeccably groomed, with a commanding presence and who inspired respect.
She served this country well and her pursuit of academic excellence extended beyond her tenure at SAGHS to the many years when she shared her expertise as a member of the Teaching Service Commission.
Dr Mahase also gave of her time as a member of the Caribbean Examinations Council, president of the T&T Red Cross Society and chairman of the National Commission on Accreditation.
She also served as a government senator (Temporary) during the 6th Republican Parliament in 2001.
She was an exemplary citizen, patriotic to the core, and truly deserving of the honours and accolades she received throughout her long life.