Orihuela’s schools suffer from a severe lack of maintenance, which causes daily issues for the school community. The deluge of complaints the City Council has received over the past month serves as proof of this. Although this problem has existed for years, the latest heating system breakdown has made it worse, spreading resentment beyond the Education Department to the Mayor’s office.
The third school on the coast, School Number 20, is one of the most notable examples; although only being open for a year, it has many flaws. A multi-sports court with cracks that could cause falls and injuries; a deteriorated perimeter fence with loose mesh that compromises privacy and a damaged post that could topple over; a lack of adequate drinking fountains—at the moment, there are taps with exposed pipes that children can easily manipulate and break, creating a risk of accidents; broken wastebaskets that make it impossible to empty them properly and contribute to the dirtiness of the playground, which is in poor condition.
In addition to all of this, there aren’t enough shade elements in the outdoor areas, particularly in the playground where students spend their breaks and engage in outdoor activities. This deficiency gets worse during hot months because it puts boys and girls at risk for health problems like heat stroke, fainting, dizziness, dehydration, and even burns from prolonged sun exposure. The document states, “We believe that this situation represents a lack of basic safety and well-being conditions, directly affecting the normal development of the school day and the students’ right to a safe educational environment, given that these are minors, many of whom are young and have less capacity to identify risk symptoms.”
It continues, “All these shortcomings jeopardise the children’s physical safety.” In this regard, the centre contends that it behaved “responsibly, prudently, and within its jurisdiction, documenting the incidents and trying to minimise the consequences,” yet “the persistence of these situations and the lack of structural solutions make it impossible to continue bearing this burden without institutional support .”
Since “if these situations result in harm to the students, the centre will have exhausted all its avenues of action, so the responsibility will fall on the competent Administration,” it asks the City Council to take immediate and decisive action.
Getting together
The CEIP Virgen de los Desamparados school principal has called a conference with all the school leadership teams to address the status of maintenance, as was done at the beginning of last year, because the shortcomings are so obvious throughout the municipality. Vicente Pina, the Councillor for Education, told this publication at the time that the new contract, which would be the first of its kind, would have an estimated budget of one million euros. At that time, it was supposed to be operational in the final four months of the year, but that hasn’t happened yet.
Additionally, that same school has once again called for the clipping and removal of branches that endanger the safety of the pupils in various parts of the school, particularly in the Infant section. It highlights that this request has been made since June 2024 without receiving a response.
Students’ families at the Andrés Manjón and Miguel Hernández schools have also written to draw attention to the many unresolved problems at the institutions, some of which have accumulated over months or years. They contend that these problems with plumbing, electrical, masonry, carpentry, air conditioning, and other fundamental maintenance jobs violate the municipality’s duties to maintain educational buildings. As a result, they are asking for a meeting with the appropriate councillor and the adoption of a municipal maintenance plan that includes a timeline, roles, and reaction times.
Leaks
Other centres have received complaints about damaged floors and broken doors. For example, Hurchillo has requested a plumber and electrician for the CEIP Nuestra Señora de Monserrate in Molins, and the Antonio Sequeros Special Education Centre has received up to three letters regarding damage, including some tiles that were swollen by the DANA storm and prevented the door from working properly.
In addition to the numerous broken blinds that have not been fixed since September, the mid-December heavy rains have also caused flooded classrooms at Villar Palasí and Virgen de la Puerta, where there is dampness and even a portion of the ceiling has come loose, and leaks at the Hurchillo school, where the water is also causing damage to the construction area, which has been on hold since February 2023.
Author: Derek Appleton
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