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  • 1 year ago
Parents of students at Preysal Secondary staged a demonstration at the school on Friday to air a number of health and safety concerns, including rats and bats in classrooms.
The Parent Teacher Association is calling for urgent intervention to address these and other issues, as it tells us parents have been keeping their children away from school.
Alicia Boucher tells us more.
Transcript
00:00We don't want no rats, no snake.
00:05Parents of students attending Presell Secondary School took it upon themselves to vent their
00:09concerns through a demonstration, highlighting those and other concerns in classrooms at
00:14the school and saying that the environment is not conducive to learning.
00:19A parent, Mary Mokwan Mohamed, states that the pest problems began after the start of
00:24the new academic year in September.
00:25And there was visible signs of rodent droppings, bat droppings, snake droppings, small insects.
00:34The furniture is in a deplorable condition.
00:37President of the Parent Teacher Association at the school, Chris Balcaransingh, says the
00:42Kuva Tabakital Pararegional Corporation assisted by initially providing rat poison for the
00:47areas where the droppings were seen.
00:50However, at present, he tells us debate has been placed about the entire school.
00:54Apart from the rat infestation, simultaneously with that, we had a classroom where the ceiling
01:01literally, part of the ceiling literally fell off and that class was closed off, right?
01:08Then we have approximately three classes where the ceiling is hanging, right?
01:16Coming loose and hanging.
01:18We also have electrical outlets within classrooms that are exposed, no covering, nothing.
01:27He also states that there are mosquitoes at the school as water is collecting in certain
01:32areas.
01:33According to the PTA president, a few children have fallen ill suffering from similar symptoms,
01:38including fever, body pains, diarrhea and vomiting.
01:41He admits, however, that they have no confirmed cases of leptospirosis, but claims that a
01:46test has been recommended for a child who fell ill and suffers from leukemia.
01:52Balcaransingh says the school was closed on Friday and will not reopen on Monday, but
01:56the PTA has not been given a reason for this.
01:59Many parents are reportedly keeping their children at home.
02:02The handful of students that were going out of school were basically not being given any
02:10set of rules because classes were basically empty.
02:13Basically what we are asking for is quick and speedy, but comprehensive assistance from
02:23either the Ministry of Education, the OSH Authority or anybody of society that can deal
02:29with correcting the major issues that exist at this time.
02:33Alicia Boucher, TV6 News.
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