It will continue to be online classes for students of the St Andrew’s Anglican Primary School in Tobago, after a decision was taken to have the school remain closed for the rest of the term.
The school was closed on February 17 due to a rat infestation problem.
Assistant Secretary of Education, Research and Technology Orlando Kerr said the decision was taken recently when all stakeholders met.
Kerr, in a Newsday interview, said: “We had a meeting, a consultation with the principal, the parents, the board – all stakeholders – because the problem is a kind of comprehensive problem that is not really in the school per say.”
He said: “What has basically happened is that the Standard Five class will remain in the (John Dial) multi-purpose facility, they’ll be doing their (SEA) exams there. The rest of the school will remain online and they are treating with the problem because the problem is multi-faceted and it has to be treated with in a manner. So it was agreed that rather than rushing the process, that we take our time and do it comprehensively.”
He said it was also agreed that health officials should visit other schools to help identify issues that may need to be addressed.
“It is something that we are treating with – we’re taking it very seriously. What they told us and from this experience, what we realised is that it is not easily identifiable when you have rodents in the schools; they tend to stay hidden during the day and come out at nights, and if you’re not trained you won’t be able to tell that the school has rodents. Coming out of this, we want to change the way we treat with that.”
He said the conditions at St Andrew’s Anglican were “really suitable for those rodents to thrive.”
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