A highly confidential list of CedarBridge Academy students who may have been made sick by mould has been made public because of a Ministry of Education mistake.

The names of sixteen students from the school who gave evidence in confidence to an independent panel probing the mould crisis, plus the names of several teachers who complained of sickness, were freely available to the public this week at the Bermuda Archives.

The Royal Gazette discovered the names after asking to see the annexes to a report by overseas environment expert Kamoji Wachiira and his two-man team on the events which led to the school being closed due to mould infestation last November.

This newspaper alerted the Ministry of Education to the inclusion of the names and the annexes were removed from the archives yesterday (Thursday) afternoon. They are expected to be returned once the names have been taken out.The panel behind the Wachiira Report interviewed 97 people, many of whom requested anonymity. "The interviews were held in confidence," said the report, adding that there were "expressions of fear" by teachers about coming forward and reluctance from parents to be "too vocal" about the problem.

It is understood that the Ministry of Education, in its haste to make the annexes public as soon as possible, gave the archives a copy meant only for Education Minister Randy Horton.

A Ministry spokesman said: "We are aware of the problem and the matter has been corrected. We are keen to protect the privacy of individuals but due to an administrative error the wrong copy was taken to the archives. We apologise for any embarrassment or inconvenience that this may have caused."

Lawyer Paul Harshaw, who is representing three sick teachers, said last night he was "very disappointed" that the names had been "made available to all of Bermuda, including the Ministry of Education and the administration of CedarBridge Academy".

He added that this was especially so in light of the Wachiira Report's finding that many people were afraid to speak out.

"There is also the danger that, in future, people will decline to give information on a confidential basis to such an independent panel because they are fearful that they will be identified and their confidentiality lost," he said.

"Whilst the identity of my clients is not secret, the identities of others have not been so public and one can only hope that those others are not subject to retribution of some sort, either by people in an official capacity or by others who did not agree with the closure of CedarBridge Academy."

An ill teacher, who gave evidence to the panel and whose name was made public, said: "I think it was sheer incompetence that allowed it to happen. It's really scary. It undermines the credibility. If they ever did anything like this again they will not get anybody to participate. It's just insane."

Shadow Health Minister Louise Jackson described the blunder as "absolutely disgraceful". "The parents, students and teachers who spoke to this panel did so on the advice that their testimonies would be confidential," she said. "This leaves people open to retaliation."

She added: "Your health concerns are your personal and private affair. Hospitals and doctors guard their medical records jealously. Putting other people's health concerns in the public domain is really not on. I'm just amazed."

Mrs. Jackson said that she had repeatedly asked to see the annexes but was never informed that they were at the archives. "They should be tabled in the House of Assembly," she said.