An East End school has been given the green light for classes to go ahead after concerns about suspected asbestos, the Minister of Education said.

Diallo Rabain apologised to parents of students at Clearwater Middle School for not alerting them to the potential risk earlier.

He was interviewed on ZBM and said that abatement work was already completed when the broadcaster first aired the story.

Mr Rabain said: “We were waiting for the overseas report to come back and give the all clear.

“I have contacted the Department of Health and they have received the report and they’re in the process of issuing a certificate to say that the school is safe to enter.

“In this particular case, there were some tiles that are on the floor that were found to possibly contain asbestos.

“As soon as that happens, that area was shut off and ... an abatement company that’s licensed in Bermuda was brought in to do the actual work.

“They did the work and after that samples are taken by a third party ... and those are sent overseas to be analysed.

“Once those come back giving the all-clear, that is the only time that the rooms can be then occupied.”

The minister added that he wanted to apologise to parents for “not reaching out to them and letting them know what was going on” when the suspicions first arose.

Teachers and relatives of students voiced their concerns about conditions at the St David’s school this week.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Education said then that the school would be inspected by a third party to make sure it was safe.

She added that further details would be released once the inspection report was handed in.