Due to the forest fires, 21 schools have suffered damage of varying magnitude. Of these, 14 correspond to establishments in the Bío Bío region and seven from La Araucanía, which affects 814 and 106 students respectively.
In this regard, the Minister of Education, Marco Antonio Ávila, affirmed that “we are going to work day and night so that the start of the school year is for all the boys and girls of the country on the first of March.”
He added that “the future delivery of educational, socio-emotional and material resources to support families” in the affected regions will be coordinated.
The minister visited some damaged schools. One of them is the Burca rural school, which is located in the town of Tomé, Bío Bío region, whose proxy action saved a large part of the establishment. However, the Punta Lavapié kindergarten in Arauco, which was completely destroyed, did not suffer the same fate.
The objective of these visits is, according to the minister’s words, “to assess what is happening and what are the emergencies. Then to seek solutions together with all the national authorities of the different services that we lead from the Mineduc.”
In detail, the affected schools are:
Saint Joan
- colic high
- low colic
- chacayal
- Poduco Alto
Birth
Take
mulchen
- The Fennels
- alhuelemu
- accumulate
- Kindergarten Alhuelemu
bring
Added to this are the schools of Pangueco, Julio Montt, Ipinco Alto, Quilaco and Rayén Rungi, Galvarino, Renaico, Purén and Chol Chol.
Back to school
Regarding the return to school, the minister explained that “the first thing we have to do is identify the damage, then identify the public and private structure available, so that we can continue with the educational system. We are going to work day and night so that the beginning of the school year is for all the boys and girls of the country on the first of March”.
It indicates that the solutions to return to school will be “of a transitory nature, and others that are more permanent.” He added that one of the solutions could be to implement two days in the establishment. However, “this will depend a lot on the distance they have. The affected schools are rural, therefore we need to ensure transportation to be able to move these children to other locations,” explained Ávila. “If there is only one part of the school damaged, it can be seen if the students can attend with all the security measures in another part” of the establishment.
Ávila indicated that the imminent measures of the emergency plan will be carried out first and then “come all the infrastructure works for conservation or replacement of establishments,” he said.
Regarding the establishments that are being used as shelters, the minister added that “the authorized shelters are one thing, but it does not mean that they are all occupied. Today there are 47 shelters in the (Biobío) region and only 25 of them are being used , but the 47” have to be available.
In addition, he indicated that the use of shelters as schools will be coordinated with the Ministry of Social Development, which “will allow us to know where to provide housing solutions. Once it is resolved, we will have the establishments. The main effort is that by March 1 hopefully we have all these issues resolved.”
