Four industrial sacks. That is how much rubbish the more than 50 mothers, fathers and students from Zaragoza’s CPI Parque Venecia removed on Tuesday afternoon during a cleaning drive to “ensure the sanitary conditions of the school’s facilities”. Families say there has been no cleaning service in the new secondary school building since the start of the school year, almost a month ago, forcing users of the school to take on the task themselves.
During the clean-up, families cleaned a total of 20 classrooms and 12 bathrooms, using cleaning supplies purchased and paid for entirely by the school’s own Parents’ Association (AMPA). The urgency was so great that the AMPA even had to cancel the School Council meeting scheduled for that afternoon, allowing its members to join the school cleaning effort.
For the association, the problem stems from “the budget shortfall allocated by the DGA for the cleaning service”. They claim that the Government of Aragon “has transferred only €10,000 of the €15,000 needed to cover the service until the end of the year”. Thus, to ensure the school was properly cleaned, families say the school itself has had to cover the €5,000 shortfall.
“This seriously harms educational quality,” the AMPA says, arguing that the money “will have to be taken from essential budget lines intended to purchase school supplies, laboratory equipment and musical instruments”. They also stress that there is “deep uncertainty” within the educational community about the short-term future. “From December onwards, the funds will run out completely, and it is not known what measures will be adopted to keep the school clean,” they add.
AMPA DEMANDS
The AMPA at CPI Parque Venecia says that “temporary financial patches and the voluntary efforts of families are not the solution” for an essential public service. Its main and most urgent demand is therefore for the DGA to create and “immediately” provide the necessary permanent cleaning staff positions.
“Only by consolidating these positions will the problem be definitively resolved, preventing students and their families from finding themselves in the same situation of unsanitary conditions and institutional neglect next January or during the next school year,” they warn.
For the AMPA, it is “unacceptable” that families have to come and clean the school, “that the AMPA has to pay out of its own pocket for cleaning supplies to make up for the administration’s shortcomings, and that students see their educational resources cut to pay for a basic maintenance service”.
