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Over 100 students sick after moving into new campus
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A PRIMARY school in Chongming County was forced to move out of its new campus after more than 100 students fell sick due to excessive formaldehyde and ammonia in the classrooms.
The county government has launched an investigation into the incident and promised to punish those found responsible. It said it will also probe for irregularities during the building of the facility.
Education authorities said they will invite medical staff into the school today to carry out health checks for students relocated from the new campus.
Yu’an Primary School students suffered from dizziness, skin rashes and vomiting after they moved into the new campus at the start of the new semester on Antong Road on September 1.
Since September 24, students started to fall sick. The county government said a total of 162 students needed treatment at hospitals, although it stressed that none of them needed to be hospitalized. Some 17 students were still taking medicines.
All the 580 students have now been moved back to the old campus to continue with their studies.
Local education authorities claimed the new campus was completed at the end of June while an air quality test on July 1 showed that the classrooms were all safe and ready for use.
The interior work started soon after. Desks, chairs, teachers’ platforms and other facilities were moved into the classrooms while new students’ closets were brought in before the start of the new semester.
Media reports quoted some parents as saying that some of the students had rashes on their faces, which they initially suspected to be mosquito bites. Only when the rashes spread to other parts of the body did they suspect something serious.
When some of them started vomiting, the parents sensed it could be the new campus as the students spoke of strong smell in the classrooms.
The county government said they learnt about the problem last Thursday and immediately launched an investigation.
They conducted air quality tests in six classrooms — five occupied and one empty — on Friday afternoon. The results showed while the air quality in the empty classroom was acceptable, the other five recorded excessive formaldehyde and ammonia, said Chen Jun, an official from the information office of the county government.
The acceptable standard for formaldehyde is within 0.1 milligrams per cubic meter, while the intensity in the five classrooms was between 0.16 and 0.41 milligrams per cubic meter.
The ammonia intensity in the rooms ranged from 0.24 to 0.64 milligrams per cubic meter, compared to the maximum safety standard of 0.20.
As the desks and chairs were old used ones, investigators believe the new closets were the source of the chemical. Chen said they will conduct further tests to find the source of its origin.
After the government ordered the school to suspend using the new campus, it had to move the desks, chairs and other facilities back to the original campus.
Students will only be allowed into the new campus after the investigation is complete and an declared fit for use by the government.
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