MARTIN Lum Kin once had dreams of becoming a doctor, but ended up falling in love with teaching. He then went on to give this country 32 years of service at the primary school level. Now, in 2022, the 50-year-old is the president of the TT Unified Teachers Association (TTUTA).

A true South man, the father of four was born and raised in Quarry Village, Siparia and attended the Siparia Boys' RC Primary School and Iere High School.

Young Lum Kin was job-hunting after graduating from secondary school and applied for teaching to earn some money.

"And would have been interviewed with the Catholic Board. If you were getting a job at that time, you'd take up the job," he told Sunday Newsday.

He added, "There were times I thought of leaving the profession, but God had other plans for me and I remained in teaching and fell in love with it, actually."

He started off as assistant teacher III, then moved to teacher I, senior teacher and then his current role: principal of Granville RC Primary School.

When it comes to TTUTA, he said he joined in 1991 but owing to some mishaps with paperwork, official records show him as becoming a member in 1996.

But becoming president isn't his first rodeo when it comes to serving on the executive. He was third vice-president from 2010-2016.

"I served for two terms, which was the maximum, because TTUTA has terms of limits. You can only serve for two consecutive terms."

He's also been a district field officer, floor member general council member and was awarded TTUTA teacher of the year in 2009.

"But if anyone had asked me (in) March of this year whether I'd be looking to be elected at the national level, I would have said no."

He said it was his colleagues who planted the idea in his head and eventually persuaded him.

"There are people who would have seen something in me that I, myself, had probably not seen as yet and probably yet to see."

Lum Kin got 3,571 votes and defeated incumbent president Antonia De Freitas by just 72 votes.

Asked if he expected a close race, he said yes – but not that close.

"I was opposing an incumbent president who would have been in the public domain already...So to run against an incumbent would have been a tall task."

Despite the narrow margin, he sees it as a great achievement not only for him but for TTUTA's democracy.

One of his major focuses, he said, will be to improve the union's public image through appropriate public relations campaigns.

"There were people who were concerned by the direction in which the union was going...some people felt that the public's perception of the union wasn't as strong as it used to be. Some people have the perception that TTUTA is only about (getting) salary increases for its members.

"So we want to work on not only improving the public image of TTUTA but the public image of teachers."

He said the worth and contribution of teachers, especially when it com