The new academic year for the University of Guyana will commence later than is usual because the final stage of the asbestos removal is yet to be ironed out.
Stabroek News understands that a high ranking meeting, involving all the major players at the university was held with Minister of Education, Shaik Baksh, but no decision was taken on the way forward. Classes should have commenced at the institution next week.
At issue is the quality testing of the air at the university following the removal of the dangerous material.
Sources told Stabroek News that the university’s Asbestos Technical Committee is strongly advising that a quality test of the air at the university be done. It is also calling for the floor of the affected buildings to be waxed and the walls painted to rule out the possibility of any of the asbestos material remaining on the surfaces.
However, Baksh has also been reportedly advised by a team, headed by government engineer, Walter Willis, that the campus is safe; that everything was done correctly during the removal of the material and there is nothing to fear. It was also pointed out that no air test was done at the secondary schools where asbestos material was removed.
However, sources said the normal regulation is that the air is tested following the removal of asbestos. “We are concerned about the 5,000 students and 600 staff members… We are concerned that a lot of young people’s lives could be destroyed in their prime by being exposed to the cancerous material,” one source said.
The minister was informed that the equipment to test the air is available in Guyana and there is a local contractor who can get it done. Baksh is expected to study both reports and make a decision soon.
Earlier this year Deputy Registrar of UG, Vincent Alexander, had announced that the $200 million exercise was expected to last two months and it would see asbestos being removed from some 15 buildings at the Turkeyen campus.
The entire campus was shut down. The administrative staff was moved to the Dennis Irvine dormitory at Goedverwagting and summer classes were held at the Tutorial High School. Library services are being facilitated at the university’s location in Pere Street, Kitty.
The asbestos problem was highlighted in the news in the middle of last year following protests from staff members of the Faculty of Social Sciences. Hector Edwards, Head of Business and Management Studies, had told this newspaper that he and staff members were not prepared to continue working in their building as they were exposed to the asbestos.
He had said the issue was pending for a number of years and the administration was doing nothing.
After their protests, Edwards and his staff were moved to another building. The university administration then took samples and sent them to be tested at a Canadian laboratory, Resource Environmental Associates (REA), for confirmation during July 14-15, 2007.
