Cariri fails to identify strain of fungus at Palo Seco school

Tests conducted by the Caribbean Industrial Research Institute (Cariri) have failed to identify the strain of fungus that forced the shutdown of the Palo Seco Government Secondary School four weeks ago. Yesterday the school’s Parent Teacher Association president, Raphael Samuel, in an interview with the T&T Guardian, said Cariri submitted its final report to the Ministry of Education last Friday and it indicated that seven spore samples taken at the school were “unidentified.” This, he said, is a cause for concern to parents and teachers since the ministry wants to have the students return to school. “The report states that the seven unidentified spores have been found in the school. “It means that the lab doing the test have never seen that strain of fungus before yet the ministry wants to send students in an environment that they do not even know what is in the school,” he said.

Samuel is calling for a meeting with ministry officials to the address concerns. He said at present the school is uninhabitable.

 

Days after the start of the new term last month the school was closed after a teacher had to seek medical attention when he came into contact with the fungus which originated in the Visual Arts room. The fungus has spread to other sections of the compound. Yesterday the gates at the school remained shut and Samuel said parents have no intention of sending their children back. “We are hearing the Ministry of Education has directed 21st Century to clean the school with the view to send students back there in that unsafe environment. “The PTA is totally against students (returning to that school.) We are adamant that the procedures and recommendations outlined in the report should be followed,” he said. He said CARIRI’s recommendations include further testing. However, he said, the ministry has ignored the recommendation opting instead to have the school cleaned for students to return. “Obviously when they just clean the fungus will not be around and they will get a clean environment. Last week we had a meeting with the school supervisor and it was suggested to relocate the students to Beach Camp. That has been tentatively set for Wednesday (tomorrow).

 

“As far as we are aware students are to go to school at Beach Camp. That is the information we working with and we will be going with that until the Ministry of Education or the Communications Manager says otherwise,” he said. Ministry of Education Media Relations Officer Yolande Morales-Carvalho yesterday confirmed that the Cariri report was received. However she declined to speak about the contents of the report. She said Cariri made some recommendations to isolate what they believe is the cause of the fungus. Morales-Carvalho said last week the ministry proposed the temporary relocation of students to Beach Camp and that will be done this week. She said air quality testing will be conducted at the school later this week as well. “We are not closing the school. However, we cannot afford to have children stay home. We cannot talk about the report,” she added.