The headquarters of the Ministry of Education was transformed into a battleground on Thursday as several frustrated Lester Vaughan School teachers boldly confronted education officials about persistent environmental issues plaguing the school for almost two decades.
About 15 teachers, who were supported by the Barbados Union of Teachers (BUT), went to the ministry’s Constitution Road, St Michael office around 8:30 a.m. and demanded an urgent meeting to address the problems.
When a Barbados TODAY team arrived on the scene a few hours later, teachers were huddled together, conversing with their union representatives. Visibly upset educators, some of whom came with medical bills, expressed dissatisfaction with how the ministry was dealing with the environmental issues that have been affecting the Cane Garden, St Thomas school since 2008.
Around noon, ministry officials were seen speaking to the teachers and union delegates.
The meeting lasted about 35 minutes, after which Chairman of the BUT’s Occupational Safety and Health Committee Julian Pierre told Barbados TODAY that teachers were fed up with having to call in sick or going on repeated sick leave due to environmental issues at the school.
“We would have gotten concerns communicated to us by teachers of the Lester Vaughan School, who are BUT members, of ongoing environmental issues at the school which have been causing them to be unwell.
Persons who are aware of what has been going on and the history of these concerns [know] that they date back as far as 2008. Now, in 2023, more persons – teachers, ancillary staff and students – are experiencing different symptoms of sickness and illness,” he said, noting that there have been complaints of various respiratory issues.
“As we continue to inform the general public as to the things that we experience within education and as a union, we try to remind persons that if a teacher complains about a building being sick or room being sick, that the children of the nation are also in those rooms.
And if a teacher is away because he or she is sick, they have families to take care of as well, they go to the doctor, they pay their medical bills, they pay the medication, parents have to do that for their children as well.”
Pierre stressed that teachers were not “looking for a reason not to work”.
“We just want a healthy and safe work environment. [They] go into an environment every day and experience nausea, some persons get nose bleeds, they feel dizzy, or vertigo, persons are diagnosed with sinusitis. All of these things contribute to an uncomfortable worker and I think that everyone deserves a safe and healthy work environment. The teachers at Lester Vaughan, I think, are fed up with being sick at this point in time. They came to meet with the ministry officials because they want a solution.
They want a way forward to see how they can get out of this sick environment or how things can be fixed in this sick environment so that they can go forward and continue the process of teaching and instruction.”
Explaining the reason for Thursday’s move to take the concerns right to the ministry’s doorstep, the BUT official said the workers decided they had had enough and it was time to take action.
“These teachers would have reported to the school that they were reporting to the employer, so they came here today. But many of those teachers have been experiencing symptoms throughout the term,” he said.
Pierre recalled a meeting in April with the Ministry of Education, saying that the board of management of the school had guaranteed certain things would be done.
“Those things were done. However, based on the symptoms that teachers are still experiencing this term, those things did not make a difference,” he said.
Pierre, who is also first vice president of the BUT, said it was up to the teachers to decide if they would return to the school. About a third of the teaching staff went to the ministry, he said.
The union’s health and safety official urged parents to come together and apply pressure where needed.
“Parents, get more active in the children’s lives regarding the parent-teacher associations, compare notes, talk with each other, see what is going on because you may think it is only your child but your child may be among 100 who may be experiencing the same symptoms. It is not about exposing personal information, but we all want a solution to what seems to be an ongoing problem,’ Pierre said.
He disclosed that there were also environmental problems at the Ann Hill School in Pine Plantation Road, St Michael.
“I know for sure that the staff were complaining about issues regarding the construction across the road from the school.
Constant noise during the day, disruption of classes, you get the dust coming over as well. So the noise, the drilling, the vibrations and so on have been very uncomfortable at Ann Hill for teachers and students.
“Also, many of the classrooms have mould.
Several teachers and students have been getting sick, complaining of respiratory issues in the classrooms, Information Technology rooms and so on. The school also has issues where water seeps through the paint after heavy showers,” Pierre said.
In a brief statement to Barbados TODAY, the Ministry of Education said it “is in talks with the parties involved and will give a comprehensive response to [the] issues once investigations are completed”.
sheriabrathwaite@barbadostoday.bb
