Cambiemos Orihuela has submitted a motion for the next municipal council meeting calling for the immediate repair of all faulty boilers in the municipality’s public educational centres, as well as a full technical review of their climate control systems.
With the arrival of winter, numerous schools have faced serious problems using their heating systems, forcing students and teachers to endure low temperatures in classrooms. Among the affected centres are, among others, Playas de Orihuela, Miguel Hernández, Josefina Manresa, Andrés Manjón and Fernando de Loaces. This situation has sparked mobilisation and concern among families and school communities.
Cambiemos Orihuela denounces that this situation is neither isolated nor unforeseeable, as the schools themselves had warned in advance about the poor condition of the boilers. “What we are seeing is the result of a lack of planning and preventive maintenance on the part of the City Council,” says Quique Montero, councillor for Cambiemos Orihuela.
The motion also warns that some centres have not passed the mandatory inspections by Authorised Control Bodies (OCA) and that numerous climate control units are out of service, raising fears that the problem will recur in summer with air conditioning. “It’s not just about the cold, but about guaranteeing decent conditions throughout the entire school year.”
Cambiemos Orihuela also criticises a management model based on emergency contracts and outsourcing, which leads to delayed responses and shifts the consequences of poor management onto students and teachers. “It is unacceptable that children have to attend classes wearing coats or wrapped in blankets in the 21st century.”
For all these reasons, the motion proposes, among other measures, informing the Council about the status of the maintenance contract, immediately repairing all faulty boilers, ensuring that regulatory technical inspections are carried out, and strengthening oversight of the service, even considering reinforcing direct public management.
“Defending public education also means defending decent material conditions in schools. We are not going to normalise neglect or improvisation.”
