The minor repairs program for the return to classes, Centro de Operación Escuelas 2022 (CON Escuelas 2022), closed, after reaching 98% of the work planned since its inception in a coordinated effort between the Central Government, technical boards (governors, representatives, mayors and organized communities) and businessmen.
The Minister of Education, Maruja Gorday de Villalobos, received a detailed report from the Vice Ministry of Education Infrastructure and the departments in charge of carrying out painting, roof repairs, electrical maintenance, welding, and masonry work, among others.
Gorday de Villalobos announced that the NOC Schools 2023 will start on October 6, since the work plan for schools will be announced soon.
The Vice Minister of Education Infrastructure, Ricardo Sánchez, said that “the minister announced the administrative closure of the CON Escuelas 2022 with satisfactory numbers above 98% of intervened schools. We know that we have some pending, especially in areas of difficult access, but we replaced ranch classrooms with modular ones”.
According to Sánchez, there are commitments with schools that have a large number of students, and due to the deterioration that they present due to movement in them, we have to intervene through maintenance. “The numbers reflect that a great job was done, a great coordination with the local, communal, regional boards, the governors and the ministries dedicated to the noble task of keeping the schools in good condition and that the students feel safe,” he explained. the.
The CON Escuelas 2022 program left 3,075 schools with face-to-face classes, only 26 educational centers that offer their lessons with other strategies. The 3,102 schools throughout the country register an official enrollment of 783,374 students.
Part of the execution in CON Escuelas 2022 was supported by the work of 3,852 officials from 65 institutions, including several ministries, in which 22,703 man-days of work were carried out. In addition, the investment in labor of 968,207 balboas is calculated.
4,189 chairs were also repaired for 86 schools in seven educational regions. 2,796 educational centers throughout the country were attended, and they are operational, in which 4 million 721 thousand 50 balboas were invested.
CON Escuelas 2022 has 122 projects – with an enrollment of 70,000 students – that are underway and whose budget reaches 527.4 million balboas. In 54 of these works, ‘ranch classrooms’ are eradicated; in another 54 extensions are made or they are new projects; eight school centers process contract sessions; and another six educational establishments are in legal matters.
An important component of CON Escuelas 2022 is the ‘Estrella’ operation, with which 29 modular classrooms have been installed: 17 in nine schools in the Guna Yala region with the intervention of a workforce of 53 people; and 12 structures in Ngäbe Buglé territory, with the support of 28 people.
Procedures have been made with community boards and tenders for the installation of 899 plastic and metal water tanks that will be put at the service of approximately 187,862 students and an investment of 4.6 million balboas.
The National Director of Meduca Maintenance, Marcela Herrera, called on the educational communities of those schools that could not intervene, to collaborate, mainly, in the decoration and painting of these schools.
As for projects under tender or tendered that are handled by the Engineering and Architecture Department of Meduca, there are four emblematic schools: the General Basic Education Center (CEGB) Finca 62, in Bocas del Toro, for 559,529 balboas, which is already awarded to a builder; the Juan Demóstenes Arosemena Normal School, in Santiago, Veraguas, for two million 1,221 balboas, a work in which there are three proposals.
The Escuela República de Venezuela and the Instituto Comercial Bolívar, a project located in Calidonia, in the capital city, for 19.1 million balboas, authorized by the Cabinet Council; CEGB Miguel Alba, in Soná, Veraguas, also approved by the Cabinet Council, for 10.2 million balboas.
