In July, thirteen companies bid for the work clearing the plot where the new prefabricated school Number 20 will be built, on the Orihuela Costa, with the award made more than two months later, to the company Domingo Serna Construcciones y Estructuras Metálicas SL for 189,288 euros. The agreed tender price represents a reduction of almost Euro26,500 over the initial budget of 215,712.
Once the contract is finally signed the company will have a period of 4 weeks to carry out the work, a period that has been shortened – the specification provided for in two months.
The contract consists of levelling the land, of 6,200 square meters on Calle Níspero, demolishing the walls, repairing the fence and enabling an area for school activities in the courtyard. All this will eventually house a third school on the Coast, reception and junior, with capacity for 400 students, which it is hoped will then decongest the two existing schools, Los Dolses and Playas de Orihuela.
Since its creation in 2022, it was first planned to begin with prefabricated classrooms in September 2023, which was then postponed to the next school year, although this has still not happened. The delay has provoked protests from the educational community and even the block resignation of the board of directors of the Playas de Orihuela school.
The educational community has continued to apply pressure to achieve the third school in Orihuela Costa with mobilizations and resignations
Now, with the new school year already underway it creation becomes even more urgent as, on the coast alone there are 200 students still without a place in school.
The council opposition, especially PSOE and Cambiemos, have both been very critical of the start of the school year and has even demanded that the mayor of Orihuela, Pepe Vegara, hold the Councillor of Education, Vicente Pina accountable.
Socialist spokeswoman, María García, a former councillor of Education, said, “despite the repeated promises by the PP, the works necessary to adapt the plot where the prefabricated school will be located have not yet begun. We are increasingly concerned afraid that the centre will not be operational by 2025.”
García said that when the PP and Vox took over the municipal government in June 2023, they promised that the school would be ready by September of that same year. However, as time progressed, the promise was diluted. It was first postponed to December, then to September 2024 and finally, at the end of last August, they stated that the works would begin in two weeks.
With the start of the school year, the reality is rather different. In her view, this new school, which has already suffered a considerable delay, has a great many deficiencies in its planning. “It does not meet the basic accessibility standards that ensure true inclusion of all students,” she added. According to García, the PP has tried to justify this ruling by stating that the Generalitat Valenciana changed the criteria, but “the truth is that the original plans for the school always contemplated two levels,” referring to the delay because the plot had to be adapted for two floors when the project only contemplated one, according to the government team.
The work will see the demolition of part of the existing wall, as well as the repair of the perimeter fence of the plot with the reinforcement of the posts that are now in poor condition.
In addition, the plot will be equipped with equipment for school activities such as the refurbishment of a garden area, children’s games and repainting of the sports track.
