education

Meduca says it´s ready

While Ministerio de Educación (Meduca) officials are confident that they will be ready for the opening of the school year on March 10, union leaders do not share their optimism.

National Education Director Mirna de Crespo said that, of the 475 schools that underwent renovations during the break, 90 percent will be ready for the opening of the school year. This is a much higher percentage than in previous years.

Crespo also expressed confidence that the country's 35,000 teachers will be in their classrooms when the school year begins and the country's 700,000 students return from vacation. She said Meduca is making its final appointments this week.

But Luis López, a leader of the Coordinadora de Unidad Magisterial union, said that repairs are much farther behind than education officials want to admit.

"I would like it to be so, but I doubt very much that Meduca can complete the work that still needs to be done by the beginning of the school year," López said.

The union leader added that Meduca is also far behind in hiring teachers, and that it will not be able to make its necessary appointments by the time school opens. He estimated that as many as 2 percent of the nation's classrooms will not have teachers by March 10. They return to work today.