Tobago school water tanks being cleaned

Water tanks at schools across Tobago are being cleaned, says Orlando Kerr, THA Assistant Secretary in the Division of Education, Research and Technology.

This comes after a call on Monday by TT Unified Teachers Association (TTUTA) Tobago officer Bradon Roberts.

Roberts complained that the tanks were dirty, adding that he had raised this issue with the division over and over. He named one such school affected by the issue, saying dirt could be seen in the water.

Speaking with Newsday on Tuesday, Kerr, a former TTUTA representative himself, said he was aware of the situation.

He said: “There was no vacation repair last year. I’m not going to indict anybody for that.

"So when we resumed schools, a few of the schools had that situation." He said the division had decided to clean all the water tanks.

"So we’re basically in the process of cleaning the water tanks at 40 schools. That is a total of about $769,069.”

He said work is already under way to rectify the situation, and due diligence had to be followed.

“That would have held up the process a little bit because of the number of schools. Normally we don’t have to clean all of the schools at the same time, but because of this particular situation, we had to clean all the schools, because they were down for that two-year period. I think one or two of them would have been cleaned within that time.

Hence the project was a major one, he said, as it entailed cleaning the tanks at all the primary schools on the island.

"That would have caused a little delay in terms of securing the contracts and so on.”

On the situation at a primary school on the eastern end of the island, he said a solution was found that will be used in the interim.

“We would have supplied drinking water for the children. I myself, being a former TTUTA officer, would be one of the first persons to close a school if I recognise that there is a health and safety issue." At that school, he said, "What we understand is that there were sediments in the water. So what we did, we provided drinking water for the children. The water in the tanks was basically used to flush the toilets and to wash hands. The children were given drinking water.”

He said work was under way to correct the issue, and he understod that people were impatient at how long it was taking.

"We were trying our best, but the reality is that sometimes it takes a little longer than usual, and it wasn’t a case of one or two schools, it was a case of 40 schools.”

On February 7, standard five students resumed face-to-face classes. They are expected to be at school four days a week, between 8.30 and 2pm, to prepare for the SEA exam on March 31.

At the secondary level, students from forms one to three have returned to face-to-face classes on a rotational basis. They are expected to attend school for at least two days a week, and five days in a ten-day cycle.