Mohan Kumar, has spent over three decades building the community of Morant Bay, St. Thomas, through education and his genuine interest in the well-being of community members. He was awarded the Prime Minister’s Medal of Appreciation for Service to Education at the awards ceremony at Jamaica House. Mr. Kumar came to Jamaica from India in 1982 as a teacher of English Language and English Literature at the Westwood High School, in Trelawny.He, however, found his home at the Morant Bay High School in St. Thomas, where he stayed from 1987 until his retirement from the teaching profession in 2015. He also started a breakfast programme for the less fortunate students and extended it to include the school’s athletes who sometimes had to train and compete in early morning sporting events. He spent 10 years teaching a foundation English course at the University of the West Indies Open Campus in Morant Bay. Mr. Kumar who says that that teaching is his passion, is from a family of educators and is also married to the Vice Principal of Morant Bay High, Alice Kumar. Mr. Kumar now serves on the panel of the Jamaica Teaching Council for the evaluation of Master Teachers in the areas of English Language and Literature. “Once you are a teacher, you must have a passion. Try to do what you can for your school. I encourage teachers to try to give their children whatever they can to take the country forward,” states.