After health and safety concerns at the Lambeau Anglican and the Scarborough Secondary schools, the institutions are set to be reopened on Monday.
Trinidad and Tobago Unified Teachers Association (TTUTA) Tobago Officer Bradon Roberts made the confirmation as he said that both schools were closed from Ash Wednesday due to poor air quality stemming from the oil spill, according to a press release from the THA Division of Education, Research and Technology.
Last Wednesday, both schools were set to resume face-to-face classes but this was disrupted as the air quality test results were not favourable.
“Based on what I was told, the schools should be closed until Monday – it should all be well by then in terms of the cleaning and getting classes ready.”
He said he would have liked the checks and the cleaning to be done before, “however, we are where we are.”
“I am just hoping that we do the needful so that we can minimise a disruption and also the anxiety because the mixed messages would create anxieties and I would want that to be arrested.”
He added: “We have the procedures and processes going through as they ought to so that we could really get to that semblance of normalcy and get down to business because we’re in that period where we are wrapping up that term just before we look to prepare students for exams.
“We have exams now preparing for the standard five and the exams that will be coming in the third term for our secondary school students. We need to get back to normalcy pretty soon.”
The miscommunication, he said, would result in further delays.
“We would not want that, so I am trusting that all goes well. Up until Sunday, I was told that they would do some more testing and we should be able to be in good standing come Monday.”
TTUTA, he said, would remain concerned, but he said it should not only be about TTUTA.
“All parties should be concerned. For me, once we have persons who are responsible in doing the necessary testing and checks, we should be able to trust them. What is even more concerning to me, it is difficult to even trust what is happening because we were told that the testing was done on Tuesday morning.”
Contacted for comment, THA Assistant Secretary Orlando Kerr said many things are happening at the same time.
“This has been a challenging situation for all concerned – the division relies on the information we are given from the professionals in the situation because as you can appreciate and understand, we do not have the expertise at the division and, therefore, any decision taken by the Division of Education is taken from advice given to us.”
He said constant testing has been and is being done to monitor the air quality at both schools. He had this message for the parents and guardians of the students: “I want Tobago to understand that this is a very trying time and it’s a difficult time because this is something – as far as my age, we have never experienced in Tobago before. So, it is difficult, but we are managing.”
He added: “We may not get everything right;
