Stagnant brown water, overgrown grass, dirty toilets and driveway covered in dirt, water, cobblestones. These are scenes that can be seen in photos posted by the National Union of Educators (UNE) to represent what happens in some institutions before the start of classes for the Costa-Galapagos regime.
“There are several educational institutions, in all the provinces of the coast with infrastructure in poor condition, close to face-to-face return,” that organization wrote on its Twitter account.
According to the Ministry of Education, at the national level there are 16,095 educational entities and on the Coast-Galapagos, 9,426.
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The Minister of Education, María Brown, mentioned that there are 151 educational institutions in this regime that require a more extended intervention and will have a contingency plan, that is, 100% of the students will not be received in person, but in hybrid modalities. or that there will be relocation to other spaces, while the work is being carried out.
He argued that, little by little, the works are being delivered and gave the Otto Arosemena school as an example, which, he explained, will have an intervention of 120 days and will continue during the first days of classes.
There are 302 educational institutions, in which there are some 161,000 students, which would be almost ready for the start of classes, he said.
“Many of these partial maintenance or partial interventions or comprehensive interventions have to do precisely with basic services, in particular, the issues of water, sanitation and hygiene,” he said in Democracy Radio.
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For Hilario Beltrán, president of the National Union of Educators (UNE) of Guayas, there are about 500 urban and rural educational institutions in the province of Guayas with infrastructure problems that could not receive teachers or students.
In Guayaquil, students from 107 fiscal schools, of the 526 public schools of the Main Port, will not return to the classrooms due to interventions carried out in the infrastructure of these establishments, as announced by the Ministry of Education, but for the leader they are double.
He argued that the Government does not count establishments in marginal or rural sectors such as Posorja, Pascuales, Progreso, Tenguel or Puná Island.
Beltrán assured that parents and teachers have financed out of their pockets the repair of benches or painting classrooms, but it has not been possible to cover the entire infrastructure, mainly hygienic services.
Around $20 million has been announced that the Government will allocate to adapt educational institutions in this regime, whose academic activities will begin, in a staggered manner, by educational levels in the fiscal system, on May 6, 2022.
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There is concern in the teaching union about possible COVID-19 infections, as Beltrán maintained that biosecurity implements are not being discussed.
“We could give classes to 15 students per classroom and not to 30, but we are going to have 30,” he said regarding the capacity, which must be 100%.
“(They are) the physical, human and medical conditions, they are not in the best conditions to achieve these face-to-face classes, however, the teachers are still going to go to work,” he added.
The head of Education pointed out that the current biosecurity measures are maintained, which include the use of a mask in all educational spaces or some teachers will use viewers so that students can see their faces and expressions, mainly with those who are younger. In addition to permanent hand washing and 100% capacity.
In March, according to the Education portfolio, there were 30 new cases of coronavirus in teachers, but there were weeks in which 1,000 were exceeded. In Ecuador there are about 160,000 teachers. In students there were 390 cases.
Brown mentioned that at the national level a diagnostic work has been done on the state of the educational infrastructure and the conclusion is that it is “extremely deteriorated” due to the fact that there was no investment for at least two years.
He pointed out that more than 4,000 institutions have been intervened, either through mingas or with preventive corrective maintenance.
The budget throughout the country for 2022 is $140 million in infrastructure, comprehensive maintenance, completion of unfinished works, Brown explained in Ecuador TV. (I)
Source: Eluniverso
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