DR: Attention to Intoxication in Schools Due to Fumigation Demanded

On Thursday, the president of the Dominican Teachers Association (ADP), Eduardo Hidalgo, condemned the poisoning of students and teachers in two schools, in both cases due to fumigation in agricultural farms near these centers.

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Hidalgo demanded the authorities of the Ministry of Education to put an end to this practice that affects the educational community in these localities and the population, and recalled that there have been many times that teachers and residents have demanded an urgent solution to this problem.

The teachers' leader spoke in these terms when referring to the poisoning of 22 students and five teachers the day before at the Max Henríquez Ureña school, in the municipal district of Cenoví, Duarte province.

He also referred to another similar episode which occurred last week at the Gumersinda Paulino school, in La Vega, where several students were intoxicated after a light aircraft dropped pesticide.

The tweet reads, "Minerd, in coordination with the Public Ministry, is investigating the circumstances in which some 22 students and five teachers of the Max Henríquez Ureña school were affected by the fumigation of a plot of land near the school."

He recalled that a commission headed by the Minister of Education, Ángel Hernández, promised to resolve this situation and warned that some people have been left with sequels as a result of the chemical intoxication.

On the other hand, he warned about the precarious situation in some educational centers in need of major repairs, while 28 percent of the schools do not have drinking water in the common areas.

Fifteen percent of the classrooms in public schools are improvised spaces, which do not meet the requirements of space, ventilation and equipment necessary for a scientifically valid pedagogical practice, said the president of the Teachers' Association.