What do you do when the authorities won’t or can’t repair your kiddy’s school? You do it yourself, which is what is happening in Loja in the Poniente de Granada.

Just a quick explanation before we go on with this article to explain the terminology ‘poniente’ and ‘levante.’ The word poniente means western and levante means eastern. So, when you talk of the Poniente de Granada, you’re talking about western side of the province. The logic behind these two words is easy: the sun rises (se levanta) in the East and it sets (se pone) in the West.

OK back to the article… On the one hand we have the Government that is slashing funds for education and on the other, owing to the high unemployment rate, there are a lot of parents who have ‘free time’ on their hands, so what better solution than for the parents themselves to carry out the necessary building reforms with the town hall supplying the material? That is the solution that the primary school, CEIP Caminillo de Loja has arrived at.

This school, besides having a nearby yard that was being used by all the stray cats in the area as a communal toilet, also had broken steps and small holes inviting the unwary to trip over and do themselves damage.

The Town Hall, whose responsibility it is to carry out maintenance in schools of the municipality, kept putting these needed repairs off so the parents had a meeting and made the Town Hall an offer they couldn’t refuse. “Give us the material and we will fix it.”

The Town Hall had a small reserve of funds that would cover the material so they snapped up the free labour force. Although 30 parents came forward, the first phase only required a workforce of eleven.

Everybody taking part is not only eager to have something to do, instead of sitting at home worrying, but they are also proud to be actively involved in doing something that will be for the direct benefit of their own children. Even the kiddies are proud to point out, “my Daddy built that!”

(News: Loja, Granada, Andalucia)