Action is being taken to address a potential case of tuberculosis at the Tranquillity Government Secondary School.
Trinidad and Tobago Unified Teachers Association (TTUTA) President, Martin Lum Kin said teachers at the school had previously expressed health and safety concerns via their principal and that they asked the Ministry of Education to sanitize the school.
But that has yet to be done.
The health scare was raised after the parents of one student reported positive test results for the illness that mainly affects the lungs.
Lum Kin noted that the student, who has not been on the compound since last week Thursday, is yet to receive results from tests done for the bacterial infection.
The staff was addressed by officials from the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education and were informed that the child has not been given a positive test result but has been quarantined and undergoing tests.
Lum Kin said: “Until the sanitizing of the compound takes place, the staff members are asking that the school not run as normal. We feel as the union that it is not unreasonable for the staff to call for the sanitizing of the school given the contagious nature although it has not been confirmed, we believe that caution should be taken and that in the absence of sanitizing, school not be operated as usual.”