Students at IES Jose Martin Recuerda school in Motril are protesting about the lack of electricity supply to their classrooms. In fact, the school has had no electricity since the beginning of the new school year in September.

“If the day is cloudy, we cannot teach here, students can’t see the blackboards, you can’t put on videos or use the slide projector, or indeed any electrical device,” explained school spokesperson, Lidia Gutierrez.

Matters came to a head yesterday when students decided they had endured enough obscurity for one term and staged a sit-in protest in the school.

The students turned up for school as every morning, but instead of going to their classes, they unrolled banners demanding an immediate resolution to the electricity problem, then sat down in the lobby of the school and refused to move. Parents that were questioned about the actions of the students said that as far as they were concerned, the students had their full support in the protest.

Well, the municipal Councillor for Education soon became involved, saying that of course the Council were trying to resolve the problem, however, the work to sort out the electrics on the site was awarded to a company, who then promptly subcontracted the work to someone else, who has in turn decided that the work wasn’t really a priority.

“We are the victims of an internal conflict between companies who are totally oblivious to any educational needs. We have demanded the problems be fixed immediately,” was the word from the Education Department.

As it turns out, it appears that student power does work, as since the press has become involved, covering the protest, the company has ‘got its finger out’ and all involved say the kids will have electricity today. Well done kids!

(News: Motril, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)