The senior-most secretary in the public service was honoured by the Ministry of Administration and Manpower earlier this week to commemorate Secretary's Day on September 4.

During a luncheon at National House, Jean Naiken, 63, was recognised by Minister Noellie Alexander, principal secretary Mohamed Afif and ministry secretaries for her 47 years as a public servant.

Mrs Naiken's career as a secretary has brought her across a number of institutions in the public sector, including the Education Department, the Secretariat and the Judicial Department.

But it was during her secondary schooling at the Praslin Modern School that Mrs Naiken developed a passion for typing. She perfected her talent by spending her weekends and school holidays typing away on the typewriter, driving herself to be an expert in the passion that she had found.

Her hard work paid off, and on the recommendation of her teacher, Mrs Naiken's career started in April of 1956 at the age of 16. 

With an initial salary of R72.60 a month, Mrs Naiken worked for eight months in the Education Department before experiencing her first transfer to the Secretariat.  She would remain there for the next 11 years, during which she was promoted to the rank of stenographer.

In 1968 she tested new waters in the Judicial Department as a replacement to the Chief Justice's secretary.

Mrs Naiken has been there ever since, and her 35-year stint with the Judicial has seen her serve six successive Chief Justices.

While most people anticipate their 63rd birthdays as the end of their professional lives and look forward to materialising their retirement plans, Mrs Naiken decided otherwise – on September 27 of last year, she ignored the ‘final’ whistle and decided to continue with her work.

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