Aranguez North Secondary School teachers refuse to work

TT Unified Teachers Association (TTUTA) president Martin Lum Kin said 35 of the 45 teachers at the Aranguez North Secondary School are refusing to work due to health and safety concerns.

He is calling on the Education Ministry to address the issues at the school.

Speaking to Newsday at the school on October 21, Lum Kin said the refusal to work was justified based on occupational safety and health reports done in April and October.

“The OSH agency did pursue prohibition notices on block E and improvement notices on other areas of the school. There are cases where teachers have fallen ill because of air quality. The AC units, 150 of them, have not been serviced properly. Initially, this school was built for a water-cooled HVAC system that never worked properly.

“They condemned it and put 150 AC units and so the school administration is challenged in having them serviced with a lack of funding.”

He said another issue was the unavailability of block A, which houses the laboratories and some of the science and visual and performing arts (VAPA) areas.

“That has been shut down for four years, so the school has been challenged to find spaces for these children. When it comes to the labs, the children are disadvantaged because the children have not had the opportunity to do the labs to have that first-hand learning in the lab areas.”

“The cafeteria has been shut down because there’s a sewer issue. Apparently, the sewer line passes under the cafeteria, and that line has a leak, so sewage has been coming up the cafeteria.”

Lum Kin said the school was also challenged in getting furniture.

Newsday was also shown a document outlining some of the teachers’ concerns.

It said there are several classrooms that either have poor or no lighting and inadequate or no ventilation due to functioning and non-functioning AC units. It said there are approximately 59 classroom spaces identified as unusable due to health and safety issues.

It said a majority of the AC units had not been cleaned since 2017 so the air quality was poor even in classrooms where the AC unit was working.

"There was evidence of the roof in the various locations would leak during rainfall. Failure to address this will lead to moisture accumulation that may result in biological growth, which can be injurious to health," the report said.

The document said there were areas around the school which were neither naturally nor artificially ventilated. It said failure to have adequate ventilation in the areas identified in the assessment of risk could expose people to substances harmful to health due to the failure to implement relevant control measures to mitigate them.

“There are teachers who have experienced severe health issues by occupying the Aranguez North Secondary (ANS) school building (medicals were submitted to the principal). These results support the concern that the OSH inspector expressed in the OSH report.”

The document said there were not enough classroom spaces to house the population of 430 students due to the above issues.

“This term, several teachers in the VAPA department have fallen ill due to the poor air quality that is pervasive in that department. They have produced medicals to that effect. At least one classroom is unusable due to a strong odour and has since been closed for use. The VAPA building is not fit for occupation.”

The document said an OSH report in October said the situation was getting worse, with more teachers submitting medical reports about their exposure to poor air quality and the fact that the failure to conduct an internal air quality assessment could expose employees to substances harmful to health.

The school was constructed in 2013 after the Aranguez Junior Secondary School was closed. A lack of air-conditioning, sewage and water problems were observed in 2015.

Education Minister Nyan Gadsby-Dolly, via a WhatsApp message to Newsday, said an award for work on the school will be made as soon as possible this week.

“Information was relayed to Aranguez North Secondary last week regarding the status of the works to be done at the school. The tender process for the contractor to complete works at Aranguez North Secondary was closed last week and tenders were returned and evaluated.

“The works include electrical works (cable replacement, light fittings, etc), replace/repair/service sanitary fittings and air condition units, cleaning and sanitising, termite treatment and repairs to roof leaks.”

Racquel Ghany, councillor for El Socorro/Aranguez North, said the corporation assists the school when needed for cleanup and rat baiting.

“I am now learning about these issues. I have spoken to the principal many times and I’ve gone to the school on many occasions. The most we spoke about was the old building to the back where they were trying to acquire the land for their in-house savannah.

“It is very disappointing to learn that these things are happening but I don’t know how much provision the ministry gives to this school, as it is a fully run government school.”

She said normally, the school would reach out to the former councillor for the area, Amit Sooknanan, who represented the area before boundaries were changed in 2019.

Sooknanan, the councillor for Aranguez/Warner Village, said the school remains in his area and there were many more problems than stated by TTUTA.

“There are overgrown bushes, water shortages, toilets not working, washroom facilities not up to par, many washrooms not working, both for the teachers and the students.

“Out of pocket, we got private donors and repaired the entire lighting facility in the hallway and painted the hallway.”

Sooknanan said the students were deprived of many things people took for granted due to its conditions.

“That school has not had a graduation in eight years. They have the simple ceremonies at school, but it’s not a school where the children have the privilege to go outside to book a hall or a venue.

“They haven’t had a sports day in many years, and it’s all because of lack of funding for the school. The principal is trying hard and there are good teachers who dedicate a lot of unpaid extra hours to the school and funds out of pocket.”

Sooknanan said the school opened under Education Minister Tim Gopeesingh in 2013. He said the school was constructed in the playing field of the Aranguez Junior Secondary School, with the intention of demolishing the old school to make way for a playing field.

“That did not happen. The school doesn’t have a cricket team, a rugby team (or) a football team. They’re not participating in any regional competitions with other schools; they have very few things going on. I brought volleyball to the school and Prof Francis, a karate instructor, teaches martial arts.

“I’ve had meetings with the students and they want a cricket team, a rugby team, a football team, cosmetology classes, arts and crafts, food and nutrition classes, clothing and textile classes, welding and fabricating and woodworking, a sports day. The school doesn’t even have Houses or Prefects because they can’t afford the pins, but I am getting sponsorship for those."

He said the principal had been appealing to the ministry for funds to resource the classes, as students tended to gravitate toward those subjects.

He said people try to stigmatise the school as many of the students are not from the area.

“I know children there from Valencia, Arima, D’Abadie, Tunapuna, Chaguanas, Barataria, Port of Spain, St Paul. There are no extra-curricular activities and we know if children are bored, they will be mischievous at times. The criminal element has gotten into the school but there’s a lot of room for betterment and I think that will take away from illegal activities going on there.”

He said he had invited the police service to visit the school to get some of the children enrolled in the police youth club so they would be able to join in activities.

Sooknanan said the school had been built well but was under-managed and needed continuous maintenance.