Fleas drive students out of Tarmac schools — again

Fleas have forced students of the two secondary schools located at the temporary campuses at the decommissioned ET Joshua Airport from their classrooms yet again.

Minister of Education Curtis King confirmed on NBC Radio today (Wednesday) that students of the Thomas Saunders Secondary School (TSSS) and the Girls High School (GHS) will return to class on Friday, following the treatment of the campuses on Tuesday.

On Monday, a Form 4 student of TSSS contacted iWitness News saying they had been “in a situation” at the school since Friday.

“Fleas have been around the school and they are not doing anything about it,” the student said, adding that some parents had contacted the Ministry of Education about the situation.

The student told iWitness News that they were waiting for the situation to be addressed although one of the students was a close relative of the employee at the Ministry of Education.

The student said that they had to seek medical attention following the last flea infestation at the school.

Parents of students at the schools have told iWitness News that the students were sent home at noon on Tuesday and told to return Thursday morning.

Speaking on radio on Wednesday, King noted that the situation had been mentioned on social media.

He said his ministry received reports about the flea infestation on Tuesday.

The education minister said there are a lot of stray dogs in the area, adding that he hopes they are strays because the government has appealed to people repeatedly to keep their dogs off the compounds.

King, however, suggested that the dog may be attracted by the food that is available at the school.

He noted that previously, GHS had to be closed to address the flea issues.

The education minister noted that his ministry has to work with the Ministry of Health to address the issue.

He said that once the school reports the issue, the ministry responds immediately, adding that every so often the schools are closed to facilitate the treatment.

King said that the government had done a number of things to mitigate against the dogs and resulting flea problem but the challenges persist.

He said that in the initial stage when there was a flea infestation at GHS, the Public Health Department sprayed the school and mesh wires were installed to keep dogs out.

King said the government took similar precautions at the St. Vincent Grammar School — which was located where TSSS is now situated temporarily –although the grammar school had not reported any flea issue.

He said that this time, GHS did not report a challenge but when public health officials visited, they said that based on what they were seeing, GHS was going to have similar problems.

King said his ministry decided to close both schools and have the health officials address the problem.

‘It would have been impossible given the chemical used for there to be delivery of face-to-face instructions at those schools,” he said, adding that the students will continue their education online in the interim.