Days after child drowns nursery school to close

Two days after one of their pupils drowned while on a school sanctioned visit to the Young Men Christian Association (YMCA), Sharon’s Nursery School is shutting its doors. The T&T Guardian was informed by the aunt of Jemimah Agard, 5, who drowned at the pool, that parents were sent an e-mail stating that the school would be closing. She did not specify whether the closure was due to the death of Jemimah or other factors.

The aunt who wished not to be identified told the T&T Guardian that a man purporting to be an instructor came to visit the family at their Rose Hill, Laventille, home on Tuesday evening. She said the man was drinking a beer and told her he came to correct some misinformation that had been reported. The man, she said, came on behalf of himself and not the institution and told her that Jemimah was at fault since she opened the gate to the pool and went in unsupervised.

The child’s body was later found at the bottom of the pool after she was discovered missing. She said the man apologised for what happened saying he was “feeling bad”. Speaking at the weekly press briefing, at Police Administration building, Port-of-Spain, yesterday police information officer Insp Wayne Mystar said the Police Service was deeply saddened by the child’s death.

According to police reports Jemimah was part of a class which went to the YMCA, at Wrightson Road, Port-of-Spain, for swimming lessons on Monday. After the class ended and the children went to change, Jemimah reportedly asked to use the toilet and was allowed to do so.

After some time the teachers noticed the child missing and began searching for her. She was found at the bottom of the pool in the deep end and was fished out and given cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) before being rushed to the Port-of-Spain General Hospital where she died.