Host of Speak Your Mind, Julio 'Sam' Henry, suggested that government take a stand and be proactive about the mould situation before their hand is forced. Photo: VINO/File

The host stated during the show which was aired on May 11, 2013 that the mould problem was everywhere, including apartment buildings and offices. “A lot of these people in some of these buildings right now have to leave work because they can’t deal with the mould, it’s a problem,” the host alleged.

Henry then called on the government to intervene before their hand was forced.

“The government really needs to take a stand on this, if they don’t, somebody is going to raise up and force their hand, so it’s better to be proactive [and] take care of the situation,” he stated.

He later qualified the statement by comparing it with action taken at another school in Road Town where the parent-teacher association became involved and parents took their children out of the school after becoming displeased with the state of the school.

He added that air conditioning would not help the situation and agreed with another talk show host who had shared a similar position earlier.

A caller on the programme also voiced his opinion on the issue. “Furthermore, the whole idea of this air condition system, the air condition system is making a lot of the children sick,” the caller said.

The caller proposed that classroom doors be left open so that the rooms could be properly ventilated.

He further alleged that the system was causing teachers, some of whom are also parents as well, to become ill on the job. “It isn’t everybody that can tolerate air condition,” the caller added.

“This air condition system is causing a whole set of problems and is costing government a lot of money…” the caller continued before adding that the concept of air conditioning at schools needs to go back to the drawing board.

He contended that there needs to be a resolve to take air conditioning out of the classrooms “If the teacher or the principal or the staffroom wanted air condition for whatever purpose, then hey…”

As it relates to the classrooms, the caller suggested, “we need to go back to the fans [so that we] can have the place properly ventilated…” he ended.

“Of course that’s a big problem right now in the schools, the maintenance and the mould problem in the school, mould is a very tricky thing and they need moist areas to foster and grow,” Henry stated.

He felt that persons responsible needed to take a serious look at what was happening in some of the schools. “Maybe a lot of these buildings needed to be rebuilt with better technology and better structure [and] better material…” He also proposed that the buildings be better ventilated as the caller had earlier suggested.

Henry said he was no expert on mould, “but I know if air conditioning is going to create more of a problem than help, then you probably shouldn’t be looking at it,” he said.

According to the host, “When it comes down to it, it comes down to the health of the kids… if they’re not healthy, they’re not going to learn and if they don’t learn, they aren’t going to be productive citizens.”