DURBAN - A CHATSWORTH school principal said he was honoured and humbled to receive the distinguished Lifetime Achievement Award at the National Teaching Awards ceremony last week.
Dr Rishichand Budhal, principal of Rose Heights Primary School in Chatsworth, said understanding child development was the key to his success in receiving the award.
“I am a qualified psychologist. My experience in the field helped me understand child development and served as a catalyst for me to be effective in the job I was doing as a principal.”
Budhal, 62, who is from Queensburgh, has been a principal at Rose Heights Primary School for 22 years.
He has been an educator for nearly 40 years after starting as a level one teacher at Shallcross Primary School in 1982.
Budhal said he was humbled to be rewarded for his years of dedication.
In his spare time he said he enjoyed road running and had completed the Comrades Marathon and the Two Oceans Marathon. He also said he was a builder and facilitated the construction of two additional classrooms, a specialised data capturing room and a junior primary ablution block at Rose Heights Primary School.
Asked for his advice for new teachers, Budhal said: “The teaching profession is a noble profession and you need to have a passion for it. You need to empower yourself with knowledge on a daily basis.” He said under his guidance Rose Heights Primary School had made major donations to the Chatsworth Hospice, Cheshire Homes and KZN Blind & Deaf Society.
He said he had three Master’s degrees, a doctorate as well as several post-graduate diplomas and certificates. He has published five books on education-related topics.
THE MERCURY