St Paul’s Primary Teachers Provide Ministry of Education Opportunity to Address Environmental Concerns

Teachers at the problem-plagued St Paul’s Primary are willing to give the Ministry of Education a chance to make good on its promise to fix environmental issues affecting the Brittons Cross Road, St Michael school, though they remain concerned about their health.

Second Vice-President of the Barbados Union of Teachers (BUT) André Holder told Barbados TODAY on Thursday that the educators had made a collective decision to give the ministry space to do its work.

“We will give the ministry a chance to do what they have to do and we will see how it goes from next week,” he said.

The teachers are particularly worried about the environment in the hall housing ten classrooms where both staff and pupils have reported health issues.

On Tuesday, they temporarily stopped work to discuss the environmental issues impacting the school among themselves and their union representative.

Deputy Chief Education Officer Julia Beckles, who went to the school, later gave the assurance that the ministry would work assiduously to resolve the issues. She said an environmental assessment was conducted and the person who carried out the investigation would meet with teachers, union representatives and officials from the ministry and discuss the findings.

The school, which has previously dealt with rat infestations, has been forced to close early on several occasions due to odour and mould problems. Despite an environmental assessment and ministry assurances, teachers remain worried.

Holder said: “There were still some concerns as teachers were falling ill – but this is just not teachers, students have been falling ill as well. During the meeting, the environmental hygienist came and explained the process of what he did but it still has not allayed all the fears of the teachers.

“The issues that were raised have been going on for a while; there have been general concerns about the air quality of the hall. Teachers have been having respiratory problems and some teachers had skin reactions,” the BUT official added.

Holder noted that the ministry has promised to do its best to rectify the conditions in the hall.

“We are glad that they made an attempt to listen to our concerns and initiated the process, so we will wait and see what happens going forward,” he said, though not giving a specific deadline for a resolution to be reached.

BUT president Rudy Lovell noted that St Paul’s issues come amid wider environmental concerns affecting other schools.

Recent tests at Eden Lodge Primary School and St Luke’s Brighton Primary revealed their odour problems originated off-campus.

“At St Luke’s Brighton and Eden Lodge the source of the pollutant was suggested to be off-site so you can’t blame the ministry,” Lovell said, “but in the case of St Paul’s, it is an old building and in urgent need of repairs. Hopefully, the ministry can locate the source of the pollutant and the issues can be speedily addressed.”

sheriabrathwaite@barbadostoday.bb