Winter hasn’t started yet and May was the coldest in years. Infrastructure problems in schools at this time are not new, but this year they are aggravated by the prices of electricity and gas rates, disinvestment in education and general living conditions that are being hostile. What situation is your neighborhood school in?
Can the school, at this time, be a place to contain the precariousness that many children are experiencing at home? According to the Amnesty International Report, “Milei’s first 100 days of government management”, among many other very hard data, it is clear that among “people with the lowest income, 2 out of every 3 are women and 7 out of 10 “Boys and girls live in poverty.” The school has to guarantee the teaching and learning processes, and we know that with hunger, lack of appropriate clothing and cold that cannot happen.
This 2024, we had the first polar wave earlier. This fall, specialists say, is one of the coldest in recent years. It is not new that every winter we remember the lack of heating in many schools. But now it coincides with an economic context of great precariousness and state apathy in multiple areas. Some institutions opted to suspend classes or change schedules. From UEPC Capital, they shared a model of Act for the suspension of classes due to low temperaturesin the rights contemplated in the Education Law of the province of Córdoba.
At the same time, the Infrastructure Commission of UEPC Capital launched a survey in which 356 educational establishments participated, which shows the status of the schools in the Capital department to face the low temperatures. The report presents data such as: classrooms with missing glass, broken openings, heating network and their authorization and operation, type of heating ―in the cases that exist―. In 65% of the schools surveyed, there is no heating; In more than 40%, there are missing glass and/or broken openings, and in the case of those that have heating, more than 70% do not have the connection enabled or in 73% they do not have adequate electrical installations to support use. of heaters.
Some claims have a longer history: organized educational communities that have long demanded building improvements, as is the case of the Garzón Agulla School and IPEM No. 5, who suspended classes during the previous weeks due to an assembly of staff, teachers and students. In other establishments, they decided to change the entry time from 7:30 to 9 and, thus, each community is looking for a way to cope with the situation while they wait for improvements.
Male Mendizabal She is a school representative for IPEM No. 5 Eva Perón from Yapeyú neighborhood, which has been in a state of permanent assembly for some time. In dialogue with The ink, tells us: “The situation we suffer due to the lack of building maintenance is aggravated by situations of workplace violence, which are not new. We have been making complaints for several years and now, with the support of the new management of UEPC Capital, we are getting answers. We started with progressive assemblies and the last two weeks were permanent assemblies. 80% of the classrooms and offices did not have glass in their windows or polycarbonate. The students preferred to have classes in the courtyard, since it was warmer than in the classrooms. We don’t have gas and there are problems with the electrical lines; In several phases, there was no light and, at 4 in the afternoon, it was impossible to teach in the classroom. We also complained about the exposure of cables in bathrooms and classrooms because they were within reach of students,” said the delegate.
After the forceful measures of the assemblies, the visibility in the media and the mediation of legislator Luciana Echevarría, they are having answers and the repair of windows and installation of light tubes has begun. “We signed a commitment document for a work plan and in ten years we will reassess the situation,” added the teacher.
Audino Miracles is the president of the Garzón Agulla Student Center and together with students they marched through the streets of the neighborhood to the Civic Center last Friday, as a way of supporting the demand that the educational community has been making for some time. In dialogue with The ink, expressed: “Until last week when we didn’t have heating, it was very cold and even in the audiovisual room, you couldn’t be there. Some courses do not have any type of heating and those that have gas-based installations had pending reviews that, at the time, we asked to be carried out before the cold weather began in this school year. After the assemblies of teachers, families and students, the reviews began. We marched by mandate of an open town hall that we held with all the courses, because we saw that the only action that works is to go out and demonstrate. Also that 50% of the blackboards cannot be used, they are broken and there are doors and windows in poor condition, some of which cannot be opened or closed properly, or do not have glass.”
This group of students took to the streets with a clear message for infrastructure improvements and they support an old demand, which is the fixing of the swimming pool. “They told us that this year it would be ready to open, but we are still waiting. We have swimming and we have classes in other sports. We want to graduate knowing how to swim, as is what the school offers. They continue to show us that the only way for them to go to school and meet our demands is with these types of instances,” concluded the student president.
A postcard that is repeated year after year: the cold inside the schools. But, this winter, everything is getting worse for the subjects of education.
*By Editorial La ink / Cover image: The ink.
Keywords: public education, schools, UEPC
