The education minister backtracked yesterday on a claim that a schools safety report had yet to be completed.

Diallo Rabain said that the preliminary inspection report had been provided to the Ministry of Public Works on January 23.

Mr Rabain said on Monday that the report was “still being compiled”.

Lovitta Foggo, the Minister of Government Reform, said last October that the Government’s health and safety co-ordinator had carried out school inspections from August 21 to October 13.

Mr Rabain added: “The Office of the Safety and Health Co-ordinator, following consultation with the Ministry of Works team, then began the necessary task of translating the high-level report into geocentric individual school inspection reports that are to be included in work plans for school upgrades this summer.

“These works are currently in progress.”

Mr Rabain said the inspections had found that “generally, all schools were deemed to be relatively safe, within time and scope, comparative to their operations and related practices”.

He added: “The public is assured, however, that any health and safety observations deemed high or medium-risk were addressed as a matter of priority during the process.

“Many of the lower-level findings have also already been addressed throughout the course of the academic year as a part of routine maintenance in schools.

“The Government remains committed to the safety and health of its students, employees, and, by extension, the general public.”

At Monday’s press conference, Mr Rabain said that he was sure that “parts of it will be released, or the entire report will be released”.

The Government did not respond yesterday to a question on when the preliminary report would be made public.