In the company of the councilwoman Claudia Arboleda, the mayor of Cartagena William Dau Chamat, toured for much of the Holy Thursday, four educational institutions of the District that require urgent intervention. In total there are 21 schools that expect to receive the endorsement of the Council of Cartagena for a loan of 40 billion pesos with which it is expected to improve the quality of life of 20,857 children living in poverty, extreme poverty and vulnerability, in the three localities.
On April 6, the draft agreement requesting approval for a loan of 160,695 million pesos, completed its public hearing before the District Council. With these resources the Administration “Save Cartagena Together” plans to invest in overcoming poverty (sanitary batteries), infrastructure (roads), sewerage construction in the districts of Bayunca and Pontezuela; and in the 21 most deteriorated schools in the city.
The schools visited by the Mayor of Cartagena are: IE Santa María, in Daniel Lemaitre, with a coverage of 1,468 students; Pedro Romero Ethno-educational Institution, La Victoria headquarters with a coverage of 523 students; IE Hijos de María headquarters Rafael Tono in the neighborhood June 13 with a coverage of 406 students and the iconic school of the El Bosque neighborhood, IE Fernández Madrid, with a coverage of 723 students (It has lost more than 50% of its population due to the poor state of its infrastructure).
In addition to these schools, the following institutions also require urgent intervention: Soledad Román de Núñez, Progreso y Libertad headquarters; Soledad Acosta de Samper, Emiliano Alcalá headquarters; INEM, Jose Manuel Rodriguez Torices; Kindergarten Los Caracoles; IE from Tierra Bomba, Domingo Benkos Bioho; Jose De La Vega; Antonia Santos; San José Caño del Oro; Arroyo de Piedra, Punta Canoa headquarters; Antonio Nariño, headquarters Eduardo Santos Montejo; Republic of Lebanon; Superior Normal Cartagena de Indias; Mother Laura and Saint Anne.
Councilor Claudia Arboleda, also dedicated a good part of her Holy Thursday to tour the schools and talk with the rectorsrepresentatives of the parents’ associations, neighborhood community action associations and teachers, due to the poor state of the infrastructure in these institutions.
During the tour he said that: “I consider that education is vital for the development of a society, for the development of Cartagena, our children and young people need schools in good condition, in optimal conditions, so that they can precisely develop all their educational activities. Today I thank the Mayor William Dau Chamat, who invited us to take a tour of some institutions in the three towns and we have witnessed the need to contribute to these schools in its design, in its reconstruction studies, I have seen the classrooms deteriorate, the ceilings fall”.
Arboleda said that the Council considers it very important to approve these resources due to the critical need that schools have. “I know that from the Council and the Mayor’s Office we are going to carry out this project,” he emphasized.
The first institution that received the visit of the Mayor and the Councilor, was the IE Santa María of the Daniel Lemaitre neighborhoodin which Claudia Patricia Garcés Polo, its rector explained that this school was built more than 60 years ago, due to the lack of investment in its infrastructure, today it is deteriorated.
Garcés Polo added that, “at the moment we are not working 100% in the classrooms due to structural problems, falling walls, raising slabs, that is why we are making a call to the Council so that these loan resources can be approved and that our institution once again offer children and adolescents healthy, biosafe spaces, where students come to study happily. At this time there are 1,500 students enrolled in high school, divided into two sessions in the morning and afternoon. The credit is only to carry out a first part that is 10 classrooms and a space for the administrative part, since at this moment we do not have offices”.
For her part, the coordinator of the Pedro Romero Ethno-educational Institution, La Victoria headquarters, Helda Cecilia Cantillo Cedeño, toured Mayor William Dau, Councilor Claudia Arboleda and to the representatives of the Ministry of Education, in which he described the conditions of the infrastructure as deplorable, for which the urgent intervention of the District is required.
During the tour of the schools, not only the rectors, coordinators and parents were presentbut also representatives of the Community Action Boards, as is the case of Karen Monterrosa, member of the JAC of the neighborhood June 13who said that: “here we are present, seeing the situation of this school, it has been 9 years since we have had bad conditions in this educational institution, the children have had to move to other venues that have had to be rented. Currently the children do not have their own headquarters, they are jumping from one place to another. The concern is very great and the parents are totally upset and worried.
William Dau Chamat, mayor of Cartagena, closed his tour at the Fernández Baena school from which he expressed that “today we are touring schools that we want to fix with the loan that we are requesting from the Council. We are at the Fernández Baena, one of the most deteriorated educational institutions. Only sides 1 and 2 work here; that is, less than half of the capacity that this school has. It has to be rebuilt, and the studies and designs are going to come out of royalties, but the loan here is for construction, please councilors approve this loan, “said the president of Cartagena.
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