Team action: The educator who keeps on giving of herself

Janice Julal is proud of the achievements of Denbigh High School and happy to make her home in the parish of Clarendon, where she has earned success as a educator, and continues to motivate others through her words and action. Team action, she readily admits, is the driving force behind all their achievements.

As she revelled in the formal setting of the ballroom at King’s House, where she and another 39 high achievers were feted by Governor General Sir Patrick Allen and Lady Allen, her husband Emet by her side, Julal’s mind travelled to a time far removed from her current station.

Born in the inner-city community of Cockburn Gardens, off Waltham Park Road, Kingston 11, Julal’s family was forced to flee the community as political violence rocked Jamaica in the 1980s. Their retreat was to rural Jamaica – Bachelors Hall in St Thomas – but without any creature comforts, it seemed almost as if they had moved back in time. With no electricity, no running water, and having to walk miles to and from school, it wasn’t exactly the price they had anticipated paying for the peace and quiet of rural life.

“I completed Morant Bay High School walking miles to go home and having to complete homework by lamp light – using the Home Sweet Home lamp,” she shared with The Gleaner last Thursday.

The principal job is extremely stressful, especially in light of the pandemic, forcing her to dig deep to motivate students and staff. Family is also very important to Julal.

“My husband Emet is here with me,” she proudly declared, her eyes lighting up as she mentioned his name. They have a 13-year-old son in third form and a daughter who is heading into her final year of medicine at The University of the West Indies, Mona. However, it hasn’t been an easy road; far from it.

Shortly after Julal was appointed principal, her mother was diagnosed with cancer.

“So I had to be adjusting to that, and she subsequently died, but the family had to undergo that kind of stress and trauma. Then my aunt had a similar diagnosis, and the same thing happened with my sister, who lived in Colorado, USA. So those three successive illnesses and deaths were something that we had to struggle with, while basically performing at a professional level and interacting with each other.

“My daughter had to do CAPE exams just at the time that my mother was being treated, so that was a really tragic time for us. But the family is the main motivation, as well as just a love for my school. I have been groomed in that very institution as a young teacher, so there is just a love for the Denbigh High School family, the team that really supports me, and that’s why we do so well. It’s team effort, not a one-man show.”

With 1,700 student and 30 staff members, there is a lot of work to do. However, Julal still finds time to engage in other full-time activities, such as being secretary of the Association of Principal sand Vice-Principals, and well as being president of the Quality Education Circle 50, which is a cluster of schools in and around May Pen.

While on her own time, Julal also coordinates donations from an overseas company which sends boxes and barrels each year for distribution to residents in and around May Pen, as well as to infirmaries and churches.

One of the initiatives which is a source of pride for Julal are the community service projects where student take on particular projects and which she started while a class room teacher and which is now established throughout the school.

“Even before the pandemic, my grade-seven students raised funds to purchase a blood pressure machine for premature babies at the May Pen Hospital. We visit children’s homes, the basic schools, and design a project for each class or grade, that they are required to do.”

Julal has been recognised by the Jamaica Teaching Council as Teacher of the Year when still a classroom teacher, but the accolades have been coming even in her role as principal.

She was recognised for her role as a leader during the pandemic, when the school got two awards from the Ministry of Education and Youth. the first for excellence in teaching and learning. The other was for excellence in managing the school plant and its facilities, also during this trying period. Julal also counts the Principal of the Year for Region Six, also from the education ministry, among her achievements and is looking forward to the International Women’s Achievement Award (for education) in Canada, the ceremony for which takes place in June.