Homeland i Manizales*
These are some of the shocks at the beginning of the school calendar in Caldas:
A. Delays in the introduction of transportation and school meals are already two chronic deficiencies in the department’s public schools.
B. That a mayor’s office orders the construction of sales booths on the podium of an educational institution, that already sounds like a mayor’s office.
C. In Manizales they are waiting for a school guarantee to receive nearly 100 people over the age of 10, in what could be their last chance to stay in the educational system.
D. In the east, 200 students are starting the year, in the midst of replacing the flooring.
We tell you again these and other reprimands, published in LA PATRIA and Q’HUBO, with the monitoring of the communities and the reactions of the authorities in charge.
Many coincide with the issues raised by the Educadores Unidos de Caldas (Educal) union at a press conference yesterday. Hector Fabio Rubio, the organization’s vice president, said – for example – that he is concerned about the delay in starting transport and restaurants, as it affects the arrival and sustainability of students; Apart from the expected quality.
Victoria
Location: Dona Juana Alta School, attached to Canaveral School
Publication: La Patria (January 25, 2023)
Case
Rural communities express concern about flooding resulting from heavy rains, inundating fields. They fear for the safety of the children.
follow up
from the mayor’s office
The mayor, Elkin Echeverri, said:
– “First of all, the school, 35 years after its construction, has not been flooded for the first time, only because of the flooding of the Doña Juana ravine, the water level rises to a part of the playground that is paved. However, we So far no visits have been received from the risk management office of the department, despite the fact that the matter has already been referred to the Ministry of Education.”
– “In the opinion of the professionals of the Municipal Planning Office, the possibilities of a rise in the water level which constitute the classroom and playground in itself, where the children regularly attend school, may be nil; while the water The course of the bottom – from its source to that point – is not more than two kilometers and the slope is very slight”.
– “However, we are looking into the findings of the Department’s Risk Management Office to clarify the steps and actions that may be necessary, taking into account that the first person responsible for this service in the municipality Department.”
risk management
Felix Ricardo Giraldo, director of the Caldas Risk Management, Environment and Climate Change Office, said he planned to visit the site. Was thinking of doing it yesterday.
In last night’s bulletin from the Caldas governor’s office, the following was indicated:
At the Dona Juana Alta headquarters of the Canaveral Educational Institution in Caldas, Victoria, during the recent rainy season, floodwaters from the Dona Juana Stream reached the school grounds. In response to a call from the community of Victoria, its Mayor and the Rector of the Institute, a tour was undertaken to review the infrastructure.
Félix Ricardo Giraldo, head of the Risk Management Unit, and Fabian López Zuluaga, an architect from the Ministry of Education, visited the site. “The school is not at imminent risk, however a stream passes through, after inspection we can determine that the infrastructure is not at risk. Improvements to some of the slopes and some of the gabion walls should be made, as well for safety purposes of the school from the continuation of a wall and when flood water appears in this ravine it does not flood the area,” said Felix Ricardo Giraldo, head of the unit of Caldas Risk Management.
Although the risk level is low, as the hall is one and a half meters above the ground and four meters away, an analysis was made of what could be done to avoid long-term damage.
Victoria Mayor Elkin Echeverri said, “You have to carry out mitigation, attention and prevention procedures, but there is generally no major risk to the child population receiving classes there.”
The officials recommended both the rector and teachers at the headquarters to follow the departmental plan for school risk management, so that when it rains, the children are shifted to the upper part of the school, where there is another place for recess and students Entertainment for.
abrazazu
Location: Main Headquarters of Pio XI School
Publication: Q’HUBO (Feb 1, 2023)
Case
The uneasiness was generated by the work done by the mayor’s office on the platform next to the school. There are four booths for food sales. They are part of the semi-pedestrian project of Sixth Avenue, between Second and Sixth Streets. Claiming that the booths are made of adobe, they cover the windows of some classrooms and teachers’ rooms, preventing ventilation and natural light from fully entering.
follow up
Suddenly on Friday morning they stopped working at the booths. This is the decision of the construction firm after meeting with the representatives of the mayor’s office. According to the Secretary of Infrastructure, Ramiro Alejandro Castro, the suspension is due to the fact that they will first install windows to improve the lighting of the school, and then complete the project without affecting the institution.
Bolivia (Pennsylvania)
Location: John F. Kennedy College
Publication: La Patria (February 1, 2023)
Case
About 200 students in the educational institution could not start classes in the first days of the school year. The reason is that the work of repairing the floors of five classrooms is going on. Beginning in late November, with resources from the Pennsylvania Mayor’s Office and the Caldas Governor’s Office, repairs to the hall began. But the work was stopped due to lack of funds.
follow up
Schools, as announced by the municipal administration, have already started functioning with all the students. Some attended last week. Structural reinforcement work has not been completed, floors are already installed in the classrooms and workers work while students study “from the sides”, indicated the rector Leticia Alzate Botero. She thanked the Mayor’s Office and the Caldas Governor’s Office for their interest in resolving the situation. Work on the physical plant is expected to be completed within two weeks. He said: “When I proposed an emergency plan from the beginning, the students returned, and the parents did not accept it. I did not encourage the strike.”
school feeding
Location: 26 municipalities of Caldas (other than Manizales)
Publication: La Patria (January 19, January 24, February 2)
Case
The school restaurant service in the public schools of the 26 municipalities of Caldas did not start on the first day as expected. It started slowly in the western municipalities last week. Emiles Puerta, the mother of a student in San Jose, indicated: “Thanks to the children’s restaurant, it is a balanced meal. We are concerned that the children have no breakfast in the same day. Rosalia from the same town Achikyu adds: “Great for lunch. Needed a snack, as the kids are away. We still appreciate the contribution.”
At the Normal Sagrado Corazón in Aranzazu, it began with breakfast and lunch, according to its coordinator, Diego Albeiro López. In schools like Chambéry they were not authorized until yesterday and Alegrías lack manipulation. The plant and another eight already have PAE. He also served in the headquarters of Pius XI.
This is the message sent on Sunday to the parents of the IE of La Presentación in Salamina: “They inform them that starting tomorrow the class schedule will be from 8:00 am to 2:00 pm, well, there will be no school lunch. Program… “. Restaurants also opened as far east as John F. Kennedy College in Pennsylvania.
follow up
The departmental secretary for education, Diana María Cardona, explained that the initiation of the contract took place on Friday, the day it started in the West, while it was legalized. The official said that since last Monday it has started in the entire department. La Patria called several municipalities, where they confirmed the announcement.
In last night’s bulletin, Caldas’ governor’s office indicated the following:
The School Food Program (PAE) is 100% operational at Caldas. This strategy of access and sustainability in the educational system benefits approximately 64,000 students of the department’s official educational institutions.
The Secretary of Education, Diana María Cardona García, insisted that today this provision of the service is included in educational establishments. “At present, around 64,000 boys and girls benefit from the enrollment of around 84,000 students that we have in official educational institutions. In the departmental development plan, the target talks about 70% coverage in PAE, but today we are inching closer to 74%”, indicated the official.
As of May, the PAE operator in Caldas will distribute 44,900 lunchtime supplements and 10,900 industrial rations through Delipe, which won the tender for 21,114 million pesos. Following this contract, an extension will be made to complete the first semester, and a new process will be opened for the second semester of this year.
The Secretary of Education also recalled that enrollment in the official institutions of Caldas is still open. “Tell the parents who have not yet enrolled their children that we are in educational institutions with open doors, that they do not drop them at home, that they take them to classes where they should be appeared.
school bus
Location: 26 municipalities of Caldas (besides Manizales)
Publication: La Patria (24 January)
Case
Yes in some and no in some. In some municipalities, such as Marquetalia, it began on day one and in others it began later, such as Sara López in Salamina. However, as in other places in Supia, Villamaria has not started. A mother comments: “The Supia Institute has been in classes for two weeks and there is no transport, the only one in the village of Sevilla.”
Julian Rendón lives and studies in Tambaria village of Ansarma
Gomez Fernandez, in Partidas. He says he will have to pay 4,000 pesos a day to travel to and from school. Along with him, 15 other students go through the same situation and it is their parents who bear the cost. “If we had traveled on foot, it would have taken us about an hour and we would have reached very
Tired,” he says.
follow up
School transport in the first semester must be contracted with companies by the rector. For the second semester, Caldas indicates Education Secretary Diana Cardona is expected to transfer $4 billion to the 26 municipalities where government-affiliated schools operate. That money is to co-finance the service with the aim of ensuring it is done by the end of the year.
Manizales
Location: La Gran Colombia College
Publication: La Patria (31 January)
Case
The Gran Colombia School in Manizales is awaiting authorization to open an afternoon session and serve the older population. The rector, Leonidas López, and his faculty believe that the institution is poised to offer this possibility, which parents may consider the ultimate in education for their children. For this reason, he has demanded from the municipal administration to guarantee the salaries of the teachers in overtime.
follow up
Rectors of the city’s schools ended last week with confusion over whether the Ministry of Education would allow them to pay teachers for hours in special programs, such as the extra attention paid to over-age personnel. A WhatsApp message sent by secretary Elizabeth Pacheco to managers in this regard raised hope. “The Ministry of Education is in the process of administrative act to approve overtime for all educational institutions.”
,Note prepared by journalists Rubén Dario López, Fernando Rodríguez, Albeiro Rudas, Diego Salgado and Oscar Weimann Mejia.
