Against a backdrop of widely acknowledged gaps in educator development across Suriname’s education system, 32 teachers from four local schools have completed the first national iteration of *It Starts With ME*, an international personal leadership training program designed to transform how educators approach teaching and student support. The initiative, which focuses on building personal self-awareness, responsible parenting practices, and intentional self-reflection among education professionals and caregivers, has already drawn enthusiastic praise from participants who describe the course as a transformative eye-opener that should be expanded to reach all teachers in the country.
Founded in 2003 by educator Adéle Grosse in South Africa, *It Starts With ME* was created to support not just teachers, but also parents and primary caregivers. Over its two decades of operation, the program has expanded to roll out across multiple African nations and the Netherlands, before being brought to Suriname by the Stichting Ad Fontys, with backing from the Stichting De Vrijeschool. This inaugural Suriname-based training session was hosted at the Lalarookhgebouw, led by local trainer Monique Lansheuvel.
Lansheuvel explained that the core mission of the program goes far beyond conventional professional development: it pushes participants to examine their identity both as educators and as individual people. “The core of the work is building awareness around your role as a parent and your sense of self,” she said. “If you don’t understand where you’ve come from, you can’t chart a clear path for where you want to go. That’s why we explore participants’ own childhoods and personal histories. We don’t frame this as a process of judging right or wrong; instead, we ask what you want to do differently or better going forward.” By the end of the training, participants leave with greater self-confidence, a clearer understanding of their personal values and norms, and a stronger sense of what they want to pass on to the young people in their care, she added.
For participant Cherrylane Pools, the most critical lesson the training taught was the importance of self-reflection before supporting others. “The biggest takeaway is that change starts with you,” Pools said. “If you aren’t feeling grounded and comfortable in your own skin, you can’t pass that stability on to the students you work with. The training helped me become far more aware of the impact I have on children and everyone around me. You have to be the example you want to see before you can expect others to change their behavior.”
Organizing representative Tanja Meyer noted that the long-term goal of the pilot is to roll the training out nationwide across Suriname. “We need to build greater awareness that a teacher’s role extends far beyond just delivering lessons,” Meyer explained. “Suriname’s Ministry of Education, Science and Culture (Sasos) has already recognized that there are critical gaps and shortcomings in this area of educator development, which is why we launched the program here.”
From this first cohort of participating teachers, organizers plan to train a new generation of local program trainers, with the ultimate goal of reaching as many educators and caregivers across the country as possible. Initiative leaders say they hope the program will drive lasting positive change across Suriname’s education and child-rearing sectors, centering core values of personal responsibility and intentional role modeling for the next generation.