Almost 30 years ago, on national television, a heartwarming commercial was aired: chicks were getting off a bus and vehicles were stopping at a crosswalk to make way for them. The narrator reminded us that more than 600 thousand students were starting school in 1996. The ad transcended time and many of us still remember it with nostalgia, perhaps because it alluded to two of the values that, as a society, best represent us: education and care for children.
A new school year will start this February 5, but unfortunately conditions will not be the best to ensure these values. According to a January 13 note in crhoy.com, the school year will start with 849 sanitary orders; the same amount of sanitary orders of 2024. This situation was to be expected since in February 2024 the Director of Educational Infrastructure of the Ministry of Public Education (MEP) indicated that it was impossible to meet the current sanitary orders.
Sanitary orders
In February of last year, the fall of a ceiling in the Isabel La Católica school in Rio Oro in Santa Ana caused several students to be injured while receiving classes. A few days before that accident, parents had written a letter pointing out the poor conditions of the educational infrastructure. Another unfortunate situation occurred in November, when a girl died in Siquirres, after the frame of the soccer field at the Santa Marta school fell on her. According to the news published by crhoy.com, the parents of the deceased girl would sue the institution for negligence, because years before the frame had fallen and caused a break in the leg of another child.
Situations such as these are what we try to avoid if sanitary orders are promptly attended to. Sanitary orders are an administrative act by which the Ministry of Health informs of a particular resolution or disposition to avoid damage to health, an accident to the occupants of a site or deterioration of the environment. They can be issued for multiple reasons, from damage to infrastructure that may cause an accident, lack of access to drinking water or inaccessibility for people with reduced mobility. Sanitary orders are mandatory.
When communicating is not enough
In March 2024, the MEP launched a computer system for citizens to review the progress of infrastructure projects. In the system, it is possible to identify the educational centers that have sanitary orders, their classification by priority and the status of the projects that intend to address infrastructure improvements. This is undoubtedly an excellent mechanism for citizen oversight, but, as the popular saying goes, “no cocoa, no chocolate”.
In the note in which the MEP announced the launching of the computer system, it was mentioned that for many years there had been no investment in maintenance, which had caused a notable deterioration in the infrastructure of the educational centers. However, the government’s intention to invest in infrastructure was not maintained for long, for ten months later it was decided to reduce the infrastructure and equipment budget by 7,596 million colones. As indicated in a note published in Semanario Universidad, the adjustment in the budget implies a reduction of 25.6% with respect to the 2024 budget. In other words, we will have less budget to attend the same amount of health orders.
Everything indicates that it will be practically impossible to solve the infrastructure deficiencies that were in force at the beginning of this school year. This is without considering the possible new problems that may arise. Sending children and young people to study in 849 educational centers in 2025 will mean allowing them to remain in places where they will be exposed to dangers that may affect their health. What is even worse: we are accepting this situation. Evidently, we forget the phrase that closed the popular advertisement of 1996: “Let’s take good care of them, they are just chicks”.