Members
of the community: An occasional feature. - Mukund Nawathe
Two names were added recently to the growing list of Maharashtrian
personalities, who have carved illustrious careers in this country.
First one is Mr. Kabir Shaikh. Kabir came to this country from Satara
in 1971. He became a teacher and By 1982 he was the Deputy Head of a secondary
school in Brent. Many high profile appointments followed including science
inspector and later divisional inspector in I.L.E.A.. After I.L.E.A. he
became chief inspector in Ealing.
In 1996 , he was appointed Director of Education for Bournemouth. He was
the first Asian to be appointed D.O.E. in this country. The remarkable
part is that it is an area with very little ethnic minority population.
Over last two/ three years the office of Standards in Education inspected
all the local education authorities in England. They looked at what the
authority does to improve schools, achievement, access to play, special
education needs etc. In their report Bournemouth was considered to be
one of the best authorities with an outstanding performance. Kabir was
congratulated for turning the authority around in 4 years.
He gives large share of credit for this to one of his deputies Mr.Pratap
Deshpande.
Pratap came to England with his parents in 1961 when his father was appointed
legal advisor to the High Commissioner of India. After getting his degree
in Physics, he became a teacher in Alperton. He too held important positions
in Brent & Birmingham before moving to Bournemouth.
Interesting part of this story is that when this month Kabir took an early
retirement the authority immediately appointed Pratap as their new Director
of Education. A proud achievement for our community!
Those who attended First European Marathi Sameelan in Holland will remember
Kabir for his entertaining expose of the beauty of Marathi language. .
Contact
details: Kabir Shaikh : Serelina@aol.com |
