STUDENTS of Freeburg Secondary School will not return to school until the new school term while the teachers will be stationed at the Charlestown Secondary School until public schools officially close on Friday.

According to the Ministry of Public Health Vector Control Unit, the school building requires more time to return to normalcy following the fumigation exercise last Monday.
Students of the school, who had outstanding end-of-term tests, will now sit them during the first week of school when school re-opens in the new term. Teachers of Freeburg Secondary say parents have been notified of these developments.

On Monday, several students were sent home and end-of-term test postponed after teachers and students were greeted by swarms of mosquitos.

The Vector Control Unit was subsequently dispatched and the school was fumigated on Monday afternoon. It was expected that the students and teachers would have been able to return to the school on Wednesday.

However, when teachers and students visited the school, the smell of the fumes was very much evident in the building.

Officials from the Education Ministry and the Vector Control Unit subsequently re-visited the school on Wednesday and confirmed that the building was not ready for occupation.
Speaking with Guyana Chronicle last Monday, teachers at the school shared that the issue with the mosquitos was a long-standing one and it is caused by a leakage in one of the school’s inoperative washrooms, which often causes flooding.
Bushes in the yard and a number of stagnant drains in the compound are also said to contribute to the situation.

Though the ministry has addressed the issue in the past by sending contractors to the school, teachers believe that the contractors never did proper work to address the root cause of the problem.
The teachers said, as recent as the last school term, contractors again came to address the problem.

“This is a recurring issue; it’s a mosquito issue as well as a water issue. They come fix and then it would happen again, come fix then it happens again. It’s a problem with the pipes,” explained one teacher.

The Ministry of Education Public Relations Officer, Murtland Haley, explained that the ministry realises that fumigation is a temporary measure and plans to further look into the matter.

“We’re working to fix the problem. We have to get rid of the mosquitoes now, then look at the cause of the problem and that process too has started,” he said.