The teachers join the demands of the parents and demand that Education renew an “obsolete” installation that causes between “8 and 12 power outages a day”
At the Virgen de la Vega de Cobatillas Infant and Primary School they can’t take it anymore. After years of complaints by parents about the deficiencies of the center and after repeated requests to the Ministry of Education for the renovation of the electrical installation without it having provided a solution, the teachers ended up this Monday by joining the protests of families and hold a strike at the center’s door.
“We suffer constant power outages that increase over time and that affects the normal development of classes,” denounces the director of the Pascuala Giménez school. Taking into account that we are a reference digital center, it is scandalous that we cannot even turn on the interactive panels or the computers or that access to the internet is extremely complicated.
These cuts, as explained by the center, are repeated “between 8 and 12 times each morning”, with the consequent interruption of classes. «We cannot work, every time the power goes out it means restarting the devices and we lose the attention of the students. Each time it happens, it takes ten minutes to resume classes. Apart from the fact that for the managerial function it is horrible, the connection is cut off and we cannot send communications to the Ministry or other bodies », he points out.
The union calling the strike, UGT, stresses that the teachers are not protesting to improve their labor rights, “but for the regional government to end a problem that puts the educational community at risk.”
Empty promises
From the Ministry of Education and Culture they explained to LAVERDAD that they are aware of the electrical shortages in the center and that, after carrying out a study on energy needs, “both the technicians of the Technical Unit of the Ministry and the electrical companies work to to be able to make the appropriate modifications to the installation to undertake the power expansion, increasing it by at least 22Kw». In addition, the same sources added, “the possibility of installing photovoltaic panels is being studied, “which is planned for an execution of 3 to 4 months.”
However, from the center they insist that there are already “many empty promises” and unfulfilled commitments and that expanding power can only be a “temporary solution”. “The installation is obsolete and we have to remedy it now. We have been claiming this issue for many years and the situation is dangerous. Keep in mind that the school is from the year 87 and that the same electrical installation of that time has been joined by other annex buildings and new devices that did not exist before, such as interactive whiteboards, air conditioners, etc. The installation is supporting all this and it is not prepared”, warns Giménez.
From 175 to 272 students
The growth of the center in recent years has been “exponential”, triggering electricity needs. “When I arrived at the center in the 2013-14 academic year there were 175 students, and today there are 272,” reveals the director.
The protest takes place within the UGT Public Services campaign ‘#Urgeplastas’, with which the union has spent months denouncing the precariousness of the electrical installation of this center on behalf of the workers and in support of the AMPA’s demands. “It was the first strike called within this campaign,” union sources pointed out, “but not the last, since UGT will continue to denounce and protest the endless list of problems that exist in public centers in the Region.
“There is a lack of space and the physio has to attend to the children in the corridor”
Another problem denounced by the center is the lack of space. Given the increase in children in the facilities in recent years, the management has had to remove common spaces to convert them into classrooms. “Since even that was not enough, barracks have been installed that house three courses,” explain school sources. «The Ministry had also promised us an expansion of the facilities and the years go by and the answer is always that there is no budget. We have decided to join the families who have been protesting for years because the improvements are urgent and we need them now, “says the school’s director. «The Ministry has been making promises to us for a long time, especially with the expansion. I have come to meet with the general director of centers -Jesús Pellicer-, and he has shown me a project that, as he said, was about to be put out to tender, but when this year’s budgets come out we see that it is not contemplated. We have had to eliminate all the services and resources that any center should have. The physiotherapist treats the children in a corridor because we don’t have space, and the diversity attention students are also in a corridor. I don’t know what is needed now for them to become aware that the situation at this school needs to be solved », she regrets.