The Francisco I. Madero Federal Rural Elementary School, in the community of Palo Alto, municipality of Apatzingán, Michoacán, has more bullets and cracks in its structure than the presence of students and security authorities.
This was one of the 650 schools in the state that suffered damages since the earthquake of September 19, 2017 and also in this year.
Broken glass, cracks in the walls and a part of the ceiling of the bathrooms about to collapse are some of the damages in the campus.
The school’s principal, Eduardo Basurto Santoyo, said those two earthquakes left damage that causes the elementary school to deteriorate more and more. Parents have tried to stop this, but fundamental solutions are required.
Basurto said that his biggest concern and that of the parents is that at some point the structure collapses and hurts a child.
For the teacher, it is impossible for children to take classes outdoors, because in that area temperatures reach 38 or 40 degrees. He has sent letters to the educational authorities, who have so far failed to attend to him.
“The truth is that we are forgotten. We have submitted requests to the municipal government, to the state government, but there has still been no solution. There is no answer,” he claimed.
“They are the usual (pretexts): that there is no budget, that they are going to come, that signatures are missing, that the stamps, that later, that they then return and there it stays.”
The primary school is multigrade and has only two teachers. One of them is Basurto himself and the other is a teacher, and both perform both teaching and administrative tasks.
Basurto asked that the authorities turn to see them and support them to rehabilitate the roof of the toilets and change glass, which is the most urgent.
“Also the perimeter mesh, for the safety of children, since it is a school that does not know where the limit is,” he said.
See also: Kuarichas in Michoacán: the security forces that symbolize the struggle of indigenous peoples for self-government
Francisco Aguilar Rodríguez, a resident of Apatzingán and social manager, also reproached for the lack of support.
The businessman also lamented the conditions in which children have to go to study.
He stressed that, despite the economic limitations of the parents, they gathered resources to temporarily support the structure of the roof of the bathrooms.
“We must also recognize the teachers, who, given the shortcomings they have, give their best to transmit knowledge to students and, at the same time, make it managers before the authorities to support them,” he said.
“There were 60 students, right now we have 25”
The children of that community have not only had to face the physical environment, but also the violence generated by organized crime.
In 2019, two armed groups faced gunfire in that community, located on the Apatzingán-Acahuato highway.
Director Basurto narrated that, fortunately for the children, that first episode of violence was recorded on Sunday, but it did have consequences.
“The confrontation was in the morning. A father speaks to me and I tell him that there is nothing to do; Wait, then, and the groups were here,” he recalled.
The shootouts between rivals lasted about a month, during which time there were no classes at the school.
Basurto said that one of the criminal cells used the campus to entrench themselves and from there repel the offensive of their antagonists.
“We have already returned and found the school with these damages that are now there,” he said.
The walls of the classrooms have already been repaired by the parents, as they were all shot; There are also broken glass where traces of violence are still visible. The roof of the courtyard is also pierced by bullet impacts.
Due to the violence in the area, most of the villagers fled. In turn, this resulted in a decrease in the number of students in primary school.
“There were 60 students and right now we have 25 and we have not been able to recover more enrollment,” Basurto said.
“People, although sometimes they have nothing to do with it, fear for the safety of their children and family; So, they had to leave and there are families who did not return,” he said.
Regarding this issue, businessman Francisco Aguilar Rodríguez urged the authorities to visit that school.
“Let them see with their own eyes what is happening, and I say, in case there is no budget, then look for some solution,” he said.
“Unfortunately, in this school there is more presence of bullets, lead, damage because of the situations that have happened in this school, than the presence of the authorities.”
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