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l Polytechnic that exists It can not be true. This is the formulation that resonates throughout the genuine and legitimate student movement today. And it is that our polytechnic youth refuses that the conditions with which they were received in the classrooms are those of the most important educational institution of science and technology in the country.
There is a very important peculiarity to take into account, due to the pandemic, first, third and fifth semester students hardly knew their school. If already taking online classes without a digital platform produced by the Polytechnic was an experience that revealed the shortcomings of the institute, when they arrived at the classrooms they realized the effects of the dismantling of the institute during the neoliberal period. This youth categorically refuses to suffer from the neoliberal heritage. They demand a higher education that is up to the size of the challenges they will have to face in the 21st century: they require laboratories, clinics, classrooms, the Internet, teachers and a long etcetera to prepare themselves comprehensively.
It is not for less. The increase in enrollment generated a domino effect. It’s not that they refuse to increase enrollment; in fact, that was one of the greatest demands of the student movement in recent years. The problem is that the polytechnic authorities did not assume the commitment to apply a post-neoliberal transition policy. It was clear that they did not establish a critical route to fulfill the presidential mandate. They believed that the precarious labor conditions and existing material shortages could continue to cover the new needs. They were profoundly wrong. Precisely for this reason, one of its main demands has focused on the facilities, their improvement and, above all, their safety.
After the earthquake of September 2017, given the seriousness of the damage to the facilities of several schools, a reconstruction committee was established at the IPN as a transparency measure for the management of funds, which held sessions to resolve the most immediate problems. for the damaged buildings. This demanded specialized studies to guarantee the integrity of the community, which led to establishing that 966 million pesos would be needed for a reconstruction that would guarantee security conditions. For example, in the first opinion of building C of ESCA Tepepan, the director responsible for works (DRO) recommended demolition. He wasn’t the only one.
The IPN was insured for 12 billion pesos due to the value of its facilities, and for the earthquake the insurance covered up to 1.9 billion. The trajectory was already traced based on a security policy, but when Dr. Mario Alberto Rodríguez Casas arrived at the general directorate, right at the time of the political campaigns, a session of the reconstruction committee was never called, at the time that new officials were appointed to prepare other studies that reduced the value of the reconstruction by 89 percent.
To cover up this movement, the General Consultative Council (CGC), a body mostly made up of officials and where student representation is less than 10 percent, was used to modify the reconstruction committee and discard the members who demanded transparency. In the end, the insurance only covered 109 million 573 thousand 394.38 pesos, 11 percent of what was originally projected. The reconstruction took an additional value to that charged by the insurance that ended up being taken from the Fund for Scientific Research and Technological Development, as well as from the federal budget. The SNTE, with a presence in the CGC, kept a deathly silence.
Public Function determined that there had been a serious administrative fault in this fact due to abuse of functions by the IPN administration secretariat. The issue is still in the Federal Court of Administrative Justice, but it has frozen the matter since last May. The damage was determined at 389 million 591 thousand 569.97 pesos. Evidently no demolition of buildings was done.
Among the affected schools were ESCA Tepepan, Esime Culhuacán, Medicine and CICS Milpa Alta. It is no coincidence that the medical students, who still remain in the prefabricated classrooms, are from the schools that present the greatest demands. The earthquake of September 19 last put these facts back on the table. Communities have expressed legitimate concerns about the condition of the buildings. The current authorities have not been able to respond; not even a single audit was applied to the previous administration. The communities demanded DRO opinions for this background, since without reviewing the buildings, in some cases they were asked to return to normal activities.
That was not all, in the case of some schools their damaged buildings were equipped with computer equipment such as projectors, blackboards in good condition, chairs and these simply disappeared. These robberies were not even investigated; We went to the Polytechnic Foundation to buy back the material that was already there, but that was lost during the reconstruction.
During the current medical parista protests closed Circuito Interior, a graphic taken by the journalist Arturo Cano of a future doctor summarizes the challenge we have to face; The young woman is holding a sign with a drawing that says: The whole damn system is wrong. High School of Medicine in danger
. Corruption cannot be the guide to the future of the Polytechnic. Youth is right: the Polytechnic that exists cannot be true.
* Professor at the Higher School of Commerce and Administration, Tepepan Unit, of the National Polytechnic Institute
