Eden Lodge Primary School closed early on Wednesday yet again due to environmental issues and parents are concerned about the frequency of the class disruptions.
However, classes are to resume on Thursday, the Ministry of Education said in a statement late Wednesday.
The ministry had earlier confirmed that the school was forced to close due to what was described as a strong “chemical, oily” smell, and complaints of itchy skin and burning eyes.
An attempt had been made to relocate staff and students to another part of the compound, but that area did not have the capacity to house all the children, the ministry said.
The statement added that a ministry official and health officer went to the school to investigate the source of the odour.
In a later press release, it said health officials had carried out investigations into the strong smell and determined the source was not on the school premises.
“The Ministry of Education has therefore taken the decision to reopen the school for regular classes but will continue to monitor the situation,” it said.
When a Barbados TODAY team visited the St Michael school earlier in the day, students were being supervised on a pasture near the school as parents and guardians collected their children. On approaching the school, the pungent odour was evident.
Some parents said they were concerned about the frequent early closures, insisting that better needs to be done to rectify the issues at the school.
“During the summer vacation, I think what needs to be done is work needs to be focused on cleaning the important areas like the bathrooms. There are a good set of children using the bathrooms every day so it would be best to clean the toilets and manholes during vacation so when the children come back these issues would be sorted out,” said Mark Robinson. “These are the more important issues at any school, even at your own home. If they focus on the manholes and not so much the maintenance of the aesthetics of the school – not that they are not important, but at this school manholes will always be the problem with the smell.”
Another parent said: “This is something the government needs to deal with for sure cause I don’t understand how they had nine weeks of vacation and now school is opening back there are all of these disruptions all the time. This don’t make any sense; if they can’t make it work, find somebody to make it work.”
President of the Barbados Union of Teachers Rudy Lovell said he was also concerned about the problems popping up at the school, adding that if not dealt with in a timely manner it could have a negative impact on the teaching and learning process.
Since the beginning of the school term, Eden Lodge has closed early several times due to environmental concerns. (SZB)
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