Ministry of Education Addresses Concerns at Ann Hill School: Deputy Chief Education Officer Joy Adamson Visits Amidst Repairs (FILE)

Some of the teachers at Ann Hill School are still not pleased with the response of the Ministry of Education regarding needed repairs.

As such, some of them continued to stay away from the school late last week while classes there were being taught outdoors.

One teacher, who requested anonymity, said: “I’m at Ann Hill School and we’ve been having some serious environmental issues. The school was closed Friday (November 17) to facilitate some of the repairs but when we came to school yesterday (Tuesday) some of the classrooms still had debris and were full of dust and in some rooms the roof was leaking and the mould wasn’t dealt with.

“The Ministry of Education is refusing to close the school to clean it or to deal with the rest of the rooms that have mould and are leaking. The teachers and students are out of the classrooms and are in the corridors and other covered areas and staff members have been having health challenges as a result of the mould and dust,” she said.

The teacher said Deputy Chief Education Officer Joy Adamson visited the school last Tuesday evening along with a representative of the Barbados Union of Teachers and spoke to them but up to Thursday, little had changed.

“There is still debris so a lot of the teachers have stayed home. The principal has been understanding and she is doing her best but she’s in a bad position,” she said, adding they also had issues with noise and dust as a result of the construction of the nearby fire station.

When contacted, the ministry’s communications consultant Gaynelle Marshall asked for the concerned parties to give the process a chance.

“Work is ongoing at Ann Hill to the roof, which is being done after hours so as not to disrupt class. The dust which is blowing across the school is coming from an adjacent project and [Joy] Adamson is meeting with Jada Construction [today] to discuss the best way to alleviate the situation and minimise whatever effects are being experienced at the school.

“Because of the situation and what needs to happen there will be some measure of debris and it will impact some of the classrooms so until the work is done and until there can be a final inspection and clean-up, it is understandable where that debris is coming from. Give the process the opportunity to see itself through, but I can you assure you a comprehensive report will be made after meeting all the relevant parties and presented to the Chief Education Officer,” she said.

A team visited the school and saw classes being conducted under the shade of the corridors. Principal Emelda Bell declined to comment.

Chairman of the Barbados Union of Teachers Health and Safety Committee Julian Pierre was quoted in the media as saying the work needed at the school was beyond the capability of janitors and some of the teachers had fallen ill, adding teachers were also concerned about the special needs students attending the school.

He said they were promised industrial cleaning would have been conducted on Tuesday evening so classes could be conducted from Wednesday while repairs to the roof and electrical fixtures would continue to be dealt with outside of school hours.

In 2019, then Minister of Education, Technological and Vocational Training Santia Bradshaw piloted a debate in the House of Assembly on a supplementary of $175 000 to complete work at the Ann Hill School to repair environmental problems. At the time, she said the previous Democratic Labour Party administration had not engaged in the necessary preventative maintenance of school plants.