SHARLENE RAMPERSAD
sharlene.rampersad@guardian.co.tt
Students of the Parvati Girls' Hindu College in Debe had to be evacuated on Tuesday when several of them experienced breathing difficulties after the building was sprayed for mosquitoes.
According to reports, the school's compound was sprayed around 6 am by the Ministry of Health's Insect Vector Control Division and by the time classes began around 8 am, several students had reported feeling ill.
The students were then evacuated to the nearby Debe Market where they remained until their parents could pick them up.
One parent, speaking to the T&T Guardian on the condition of anonymity, said the parents were shocked their children had been sent to the unsanitary market compound.
Around 9.30 the school was dismissed and students were being sent home.
The grandmother of one student said she was alarmed the school would be sprayed hours before classes were supposed to start.
"By doing that (spraying) they have put the children at a great risk, there are quite a few children who suffer from asthma and were getting sick with the residual scent this morning," she said.
The woman knocked the school's administration for not informing parents of the spraying exercise.
"They (the school) were notified on Monday that the school would be sprayed, so why didn't they tell us something? They would rather risk having the children fall ill then?"
However, one teacher, who asked not to be named, said the administration was not aware of the exercise.
"They were supposed to come over the weekend to spray, nobody knew they were coming today. There was a little delay in sending home the children this morning because proper protocol needed to be followed. The principal had to call the school supervisor before school could be dismissed," she said.
The teacher said the teachers were supervising the students and making sure every parent or guardian sign out their children before leaving.
Contacted yesterday T&T Unified Teachers Association (TTUTA) president Lynsley Doodhai said there are usually clear guidelines on how schools should be sprayed.
"You do not spray a school the day before classes start, schools are usually sprayed on a Friday evening so the buildings have time to air out," Doodhai said.