Students and teachers of Orihuela’s School of Higher Art were out in force on Tuesday as they organised a rally at the college gates to demonstrate about the state of their college building.
A spokesman said that they were no longer prepared to sit by and watch the building fall further into disrepair.
The demonstration was planned to coincide with the visit of the Director of the Superior Institute of Artistic Education of the Generalitat, Josep Manel García.
As demonstrators sat around the entrance wearing hard hats and carrying banners protesting about asbestos ceilings and an infestation of rats the President of the Easdo student union, Paula García, said that the infrastructure is appalling. “All we want as students are conditions where it is safe to study”.
The English teacher, Edu Grao, said that the building and its environment have important deficiencies. “Only last Friday a palm tree fell over for the second occasion. We were very lucky that nobody was badly injured”.
The teacher added that the windows are old and the centre needs new window frames and doors that prevent the cold during the winter, “because at the moment, students have to sit in the classrooms wearing heavy coats and even gloves”.
Josep Manel García explained that he was visiting the centre to confirm reports that had been submitted to his department.
He said that the Territorial Directorate has already hired contractors to remove the asbestos, repair the roof and reinforce the structure although he couldn’t say when the work was likely to begin.
