The students of the new Silver City Secondary School who were under observation at the Linden Hospital Complex were sent home on Wednesday night after their conditions improved.

Twelve children from the school had to be admitted to the medical institution after they started vomiting and displaying symptoms of physical weakness.

Stabroek News was told that earlier on Wednesday a child reportedly suffered a fit and was sent home. Shortly after the lunch period, a number of other children said they felt ‘strange’. Some fell unconscious, some vomited and others experienced weakness in their lower extremities.

This newspaper was reliably informed yesterday that the affected children were examined by a medical doctor who had ordered blood investigations. The samples have been sent to the Georgetown Public Hospital laboratory and results are expected back in Linden today. Among the tests ordered were typhoid and food poisoning.

The experience, which was described by one parent as traumatic, resulted in some parents keeping their children home from school yesterday. Some parents took their children for prayers at a deliverance meeting, while other held prayer circles at the home level.

One parent said she was very fearful for the well-being of her child and would be approaching the Ministry of Education to have her transferred to another school.

To date there has been no comment from the Region Ten Department of Education on the matter.

In the report on the incident published yesterday, this newspaper inadvertently said that the affected school was the Linden Foundation Secondary School. Stabroek News apologises for this error.