Parents of students at Lawrence T Gay Memorial Primary have staged yet another protest as they desperately cry out for the attention of education and health authorities regarding what they describe as serious environmental issues at the location.
Standing in front of the school plant this morning, holding placards carrying strong messages, parents, some of whom were accompanied by their children, said in light of students and teachers falling ill, allegedly due to environmental factors, it is time that authorities take control of the situation.
The environmental issues at the Spooner’s Hill, St Michael location, have been of concern for several years, leading to the execution of an environmental assessment report, in addition to students and teachers being relocated for a period of time.
President of the school’s Parent Teachers Association (PTA), Stephanie Williams, said yet another protest is being held to get the attention of the Ministry of Labour and Ministry of Health.
Williams said parents who are concerned about their children’s health, are fed up about having to constantly leave work to collect their charges from the school when they fall ill.
“We are not going to tell them how to do their jobs, but we are asking them to come and look into the situation. It was highlighted in the environmental report that there were some external issues and I believe that that would be properties surrounding the school, and that has not been dealt with. We have not seen anyone, we have not heard anything so we would like them to come out and deal with that,” Williams said.
Williams also informed members of the media that approximately 25 students have been transferred since the new school year started, while 21 teachers were absent in week six, and one class four teacher was also transferred.
She said she was also concerned that the matter has significantly affected Class 4 students who are supposed to be in the process of preparing for next year’s 11 Plus Examination, but appear to be behind in the curriculum.
“The teacher who would be teaching Class 4 had to be transferred due to the fact that she was sick from inception and it is just unfair. It seems as though Lawrence T Gay has been forgotten. We need more results. We need the issue dealt with,” Williams said.
“We would like that our voices are heard because we are not just here because we want to be here. Saturday is a day where we can be doing a lot of things like going to the beach, taking the children to the various lessons that they would have to attend, but we choose to be here because the situation is dire and we need intervention,” she added.
Sandra Herbert who has a grandchild and two nieces at Lawrence T Gay, complained that her grandson has been sleeping and vomiting and suffering from allergic reactions, due to the environmental issues.
“When my grandson comes home on evenings, his eyes are red like a cherry with all the different allergies and we got to be spending money all the time to take him to a doctor. Every day my niece has a headache, so right now this is more than two weeks her mother keeping her home from school.
“I want something to be done and don’t wait until one of two of our children die, or, one or two of our teachers die. We are human beings and right now we ain’t getting treat like we are human beings, we getting treated like we are animals,” Herbert said.
Enlou Frere, who is the mother of two children attending Lawrence T Gay, said her children have been complaining about stomach aches, chest pains, and one daughter has been experiencing migraine headaches.
Frere, who said she has kept her children home because they have been feeling unwell, indicated that she could not understand why the school was reopened if the matter was not thoroughly rectified.
“Teachers are still out sick, children are being transferred. Apart from getting to the bottom of this issue, our children need more time, our children are behind, our children are not even up to date with the syllabus and nobody is addressing this, we want the Ministry of Education to address this now because our children are not prepared for the 11 Plus; they are behind and we need more time,” Frere said.
When contacted, President of the Barbados Union of Teachers (BUT) Pedro Shepherd confirmed that the union was aware that one teacher has been transferred from Lawrence T Gay, while the number of students transferred is currently 25. Shepherd said as recently as last week, he held a meeting with frustrated Lawrence T Gay teachers to discuss the matter.
“We know one teacher for sure has been transferred and the number of students transferred now is at 25. We would have met with teachers on a few occasions, as recently as Monday we met virtually, and immediately we prepared communication to send off to the Ministry. We got a response saying that the Ministry will be meeting with technical officials next week.
“But in the meantime, the teachers and parents remain concerned about the findings of the REA Envirohealth report. We are at the stage where we want the Ministry of Education to insist that the Ministries of Health and Labour carry out what they are supposed to do in relation to the REA report and that is to go into the community and find out what needs to be done. But the school cannot continue in the present location with these environmental issues,” Shepherd said.
Barbados TODAY’s efforts to contact officials at the Ministry of Education proved futile. (AH)
