As if it were a remake of the pandemic, in a
school in Greater Buenos Aires
the boys do not have face-to-face classes and do revision and homework with exercises sent by WhatsApp.
This is the Antonio Mentruyt Superior Normal School, better known as ENSAM or ENAM, a historic school in Lomas de Zamora, and one of the largest in the region.
Infrastructure problems
are
not new: since 2018, parents say, there were complications in the
school's
water network .
Without an in-depth solution, the problem grew until less than a week after the start of classes it was decided to
close the building for an indefinite period.
The repairs that were planned in the building located at Manuel Castro 990, Banfield,
were going to end in these days
but according to municipal sources, the workers found that
the problem was more serious than expected
: the tanks were punctured and were about to burst. break completely.
This generated a series of delays and an even larger work that was incompatible with the development of the classes.
Now, after several demonstrations, the parents received a promise from the Municipality that
the school would reopen on Monday the 27th.
During this long weekend, families wait expectantly.
Regarding the long story that led to this outcome, as they were reconstructing, first there were leaks in a stopcock, the laboratory was flooded and then punctures were detected in the tanks.
ENSAM is one of the most emblematic schools in Banfield.
}Right now only the kindergarten has classes normally, since it works in another building, but hundreds of students of all ages were left adrift, in a situation that is very difficult for families to sustain.
"In addition to the impact that this generates on education, there are the difficulties that we face as parents since we have our jobs and organizing care tasks is really impossible and stressful," says the mother of two primary and secondary students.
March and communiqué
On Wednesday the 22nd and after not obtaining any satisfactory response, the families, the educational community and the student center first moved to the Municipality of Lomas de Zamora and then to the Deliberative Council, where they were able to enter and display posters with claims.
They also delivered a statement to publicize the difficult situation that the emblematic school in the South zone is going through.
To bring the claim to the ears of the authorities, they broke into the session chanting "Che Consejo, don't bully us anymore, fix our schools or what a quilombo is going to break out."
The posters that were hung in the Deliberative Council of Lomas during the protest.
The school has all educational levels:
kindergarten, primary, secondary and tertiary,
like many Normal schools in different parts of the country, so its community is very
large and heterogeneous.
"Enough of neglect and disinvestment. The girls in the classroom now," said the
posters
that the protesters hung
in the Council boxes
while they carried their statement to request an urgent meeting with those in charge of the school infrastructure area.
“We are concerned about the prolonged suspension of school classes since March 10 due to infrastructure problems related to the water connection.
It is a problem for boys and girls who are losing valuable days of academic training, but also due to the lack of socialization because, for most of them, school is the main place where they develop bonds and ties with peers from different family nuclei. ”, they warned in the joint statement.
The families recalled that on several occasions the school authorities asked the School Council to make the necessary repairs in the bathrooms, but when the month of February arrived and with the imminent start of classes there was still no news.
The ENSAM educational community claims that they only had six days of classes.
From the school cooperative they made a detailed review on social networks of all the actions that were taken to request arrangements.
On Monday the 20th, they report.
"They are already arranging the water supply to enable the PB teachers' bathrooms. At the same time, the bathrooms are being painted. As soon as these bathrooms are enabled, the possibility of gradually resuming activities will be analyzed," starting of what was stated by the supervising architect of the work and the person in charge of the company that carried out the arrangement.
Barely six days after classes began, the school closed for not being able to guarantee hygiene conditions.
The situation of the lack of water was also coupled with the intense heat wave during the first half of February, which made it even more difficult to continue with the classes.
Now, parents and students of the ENSAM hope that next Monday the routine will resume.
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