Show us the evidence!
That is the demand from President of the Barbados Union of Teachers, Sean Spencer in response to an assertion from Minister of Education Santia Bradshaw that environmental problems at Lester Vaughn School, Sharon Primary School, and the Maria Holder nursery, all in close proximity are “different and completely unrelated”.
Arguing the health of children and teachers was potentially one of life and death, the union boss challenged the ministry to provide empirical evidence of Bradshaw’s claims and demanded that they disclose “key information” on the problems as Sharon Primary School entered the third week of the new school year without classes.
Spencer remained concerned that a filtration system, which was promised by a nearby business to remove alleged harmful pollutants being spewed into the atmosphere by its operations had not been installed.
Over the weekend, the Education Minister sought to dispel assertions leveled by the union president last week that Lester Vaughn’s problems were internal environmental challenges associated with the physical plant.
Spencer said on Monday that preliminary reports on Sharon and the previous reports on Lester Vaughn point to very common symptoms and common “illnesses and ailments” and in the absence of evidence to the contrary, dismissed Bradshaw’s comments as a “subjective view, which we [the BUT] would not want to hold”.
“We prefer to have the empirical evidence and that is why it is so important for us to have access to those reports as opposed to being moved by speculation,” Spencer told Barbados TODAY on Monday.
“Certainly you’re not talking about inanimate objects. You’re talking about people and the wellbeing of children in a nursery school…from as young as three years old. So we would want conclusive proof to allay any fears that may exist because we are being asked to consider proposals without full disclosure and that is difficult You’re exposing three years old to such without explaining what has been going on and what methods are being taken. So we are just going around in circles of speculations.”
On Friday, parents of students enrolled for the new year at Sharon Primary School held a small protest outside the nearby Jackson Church of God, demanding more answers from Government about the nature of the environmental problems which left several students and teachers extremely ill.
Since then, the ministry announced Class 4 students of the Sharon Primary School will report to the Jackson Seventh Day Adventist Church, Jackson, St Michael on Wednesday, September 25, for their instruction while all other classes will remain at home for the remainder of the week.
The Ministry of Education, Technological and Vocational Training and the Ministry of Health and Wellness will meet with all members of staff of the Maria Holder Nursery-Sharon and the Sharon Primary Schools on Tuesday at 10 a.m. at the Jackson Seventh Day Adventist Church.
Later the same day, these ministries will also meet with parents of the two schools at 4 p.m at the same venue.
Spencer lauded parents for seeking to have their concerns addressed.
“Very often when we seek to engage parents as teachers they don’t respond, but when parents are indeed engaged in their children’s progress and their wellbeing at school we normally see good things happen.”
He further argued that while health issues have subsided at the Lester Vaughn School, people are still falling ill and a documented trail existed with people becoming ill at school, leaving the school and becoming reasonable well. However upon returning to the plant they complained of becoming ill again.
“This was seen at Sharon on Monday, 2nd [September] which is the planning week. On Monday, the first week of instruction, people became ill again. So if you’re telling me there’s no commonality I wouldn’t know what to say to that but the fact of the matter is we don’t want people exposed to harmful conditions or worse someone ends up dead.
“It shouldn’t come to that before authorities move with greater alacrity on this matter,” he said.
Efforts to reach the Education Minister were unsuccessful.
kareemsmith@barbadostoday.bb
