BSTU wants meeting on readiness for in-person classes, amid ashfall, COVID-19

With less than a week before schools return to in-person classes, the union representing high school teachers has called for  an urgent meeting with the Ministry of Education on the readiness of school plants given last week’s volcanic ashfall and fresh outbreaks of COVID-19.

“We need a meeting with the Ministry of Education. We need to know where the schools are at in terms of cleaning, and where the country is at in terms of COVID,” said Barbados Secondary Teachers Union (BSTU) president Mary Redman.

She said teachers need to receive word that it is safe to return to the schools next week.

Redman said: “We need answers. We need clarifications. We need assurances. We need to know that the school environments are safe.

“We cannot operate in an environment where they say you need ventilation to prevent the spread of COVID and at the same time, the need to close windows to prevent the effects of ash still in the environment.

“There is a contradiction there in terms of the implications for health and that is just one example of matters that we need to have clarified.

“There is still a lot of dust in the environment in terms of the cleaning that is going on. You can’t even open your windows and doors because there is so much dust with every gust of wind, coming off of neighbouring roofs and so on.”

As dust particles from the erupting La Soufrière volcano still float around the island, Redman suggested this was a risk to the large number of asthmatics among school children and teachers.

She told Barbados TODAY that at a meeting with Chief Education Officer Joy Adamson last week, the BSTU requested that another meeting be held this week with the Ministry of Health and the COVID-19 Monitoring Unit to answer many unanswered questions.

She said: “We are asking for that meeting to be held as soon as possible. We want to be in a position to find out exactly how those matters are being addressed and the potential impact for the reopening of school.

“Any reopening of school must take place in an environment that does not compromise the health and well being of any users of the school compound, whether they are students, ancillary staff, or teachers. And so, that meeting is to seek clarifications and get responses to our concerns.”

The union leader said the BSTU’s executive has promised to meet with the general membership before the resumption of face-to-face teaching to allow them to express any concerns they need addressed.

Redman said: “The minister said that school will be closed for a week in the first instance, if I remember correctly. And therefore, the end of the week will be the end of this week.

“But of course, everything was dependent upon the exigencies of the ongoing circumstances and therefore that is what we want to be clear on.

(anestahenry@barbadostoday.bb)