Teachers at the Princes Town East Secondary School have not been working since Monday because of a mould outbreak which is making them and their pupils fall ill.Their refusal to work came after nine teachers and scores of students needed medical treatment last week for a range of issues, including itchy skin, rashes, breathing problems, upset stomach and burning eyes.
T&T Unified Teachers Association's (TTUTA) vice president Lynsley Doodhai said the Education Facilities Company Ltd (EFCL) had sent a contractor to the school over the weekend, but TTUTA was not satisfied with the work done. And on Monday, he said, TTUTA advised teachers not to work for health and safety reasons."Attempts were made to wipe off the area where the suspected mould outbreak is. That is not good enough," he complained.
The teachers walked off the job and most did not return for the rest of the week.He said on Wednesday TTUTA wrote to the Education Ministry asking for swift action."We are calling on the ministry to do two things. One, to conduct an air quality assessment, and two, that tests be done to see if there is presence of mould and microbials at the school."
Doodhai recalled that the ministry did those tests when there were similar mould outbreaks at Malick Secondary and Couva West Secondary. He said teachers will not return to work until it the school is safe for occupation."Their health will not be compromised."
9 seek treatment
One of the teachers who fell ill said, "Nine teachers had to seek medical treatment. Two of them had asthma attacks. You feeling like there are grains in your eyes, they are burning. Your throat feeling itchy like when you getting the cold. My nose was itching a lot."Another teacher said the school was still under construction and the air conditioning system was not working properly.
"The mould is located in ducts of the central air condition system. We are occupying two buildings in the school and the entire area, the classrooms and labs, are being affected."There are 54 teachers and 420 students at the school. Three teachers and 60 students turned out on Tuesday and school was dismissed at 11 am. On Wednesday and Thursday school was dismissed at 10.30 am, after only one teacher reported to work on each day. There were only nine students in school on Thursday.
When contacted, the ministry's media relations co-ordinator, Yolanda Morales-Carvalho, said the EFCL was addressing the situation."Testing has already been agreed and approved. I believe it will be done no later than next week, because it has to be done by Caribbean Industrial Research Institute (CARIRI)."She said the educational district office was also arranging to have some of the students relocated to another school until the situation is rectified.