Looking ahead to the 2023-2024 school year, the Government of Portuguesa created and launched the Un Corazón para tu Escuela Plan, in order to contribute to the recovery of educational infrastructure and even build new schools in communities lacking service.
In its first phase, the regional plan has as its model unit the El Guamo School, in the Pimpinela parish of the Páez municipality (Acarigua), where a comprehensive rehabilitation process is being carried out. "El Guamo will become the school that everyone will want to have," said Governor Primitivo Cedeño.
During an inspection of the works, the regional leader said that the institution was "totally destroyed" and that is why the project A Heart for Your School was being carried out to guarantee that students could start the school year in decent, beautiful and comfortable infrastructure.
In its initial stage, the plan is carried out in urban and rural sectors of the Ospino municipalities, in the center-north of Portuguesa; Araure, in the northern part of the state; and this week it expanded to Guanare, the capital municipality of the state.
"In difficult times we are moving forward, with few resources but with this strategic union with our brother President Nicolás Maduro, a team effort that ends in a sure victory," Cedeño stressed.
New high schools for the upper area of Araure
The Plan A Heart for Your School arrived in the upper area of Portuguesa with materials and supplies so that organized communities can build their own educational institutions. Thus, in the three coffee-growing areas of Araure, four high schools are currently being built, specifically in the hamlets of Guayabal Centro, Cerro Pelón II, Peña Azul and El Salto. The first combatant of Portuguesa, María Gabriela Gil de Cedeño, reported that in this last sector "the slab has already been poured and the metal structure has been installed to receive the straps and the roof and then proceed to the enclosure with blocks."
According to Mario Torrelles, a resident of El Salto, having a high school in the community will guarantee that the inhabitants of the point and circle and even those from neighboring towns in the state of Lara can complete their high school studies. In addition, the school will be a work center for teachers in the area and will provide the upper area of Araure with "a great benefit for the present and the future." According to Elizabeth Castillo, one of the neighbors, the school is looking very nice and its construction is a great achievement, "because we did not have a high school for the children here, only a wattle and daub house."
In the Guayabal Centro hamlet, the works are also in full swing. Isaías Martinez, one of the inhabitants, explained that the works are progressing at a good pace, “the slab has already been laid and we are receiving the structural beams for the standing structure.” For Deidi Meléndez, a social leader in the area, the approval of the site for the sector was a surprise. “We did not expect this gift… Many governments passed by but they never fulfilled their promises,” she commented.
Similar opinions are held by the residents of Cerro Pelón II and Peña Azul, who already have the necessary materials to make comprehensive repairs and improvements to their secondary education centers and even build new modules.
More work fronts in Araure
In the urban area of Araure, the plan has other work fronts in urban and rural areas. In the heart of the city, for example, there is the Nereida Moreno de Dugarte Bolivarian School, where repairs are carried out at the ceiling, bathrooms, electrical wiring and painting. Similarly, at the Luis Beltrán Prieto Figueroa high school, with an enrollment of more than 700 students, the frieze was removed from the walls, a new one is being placed and the roof of the 13 modules that make up the campus is also being replaced.
Another institution that Un Corazón para tu Escuela reached is the Villa Araure Special Education Center, with the construction of more than 3.400 square meters of perimeter wall to strengthen the security of the young people and adults who train there. In the Guacuy II hamlet the strength of the plan is also felt, with the comprehensive repair of the bathrooms, the perimeter fence, the roof, the lighting and the painting of the Initial Education Center in the area.
A Heart for your School also arrives in Ospino
The One Heart for your School Plan reaches the Ospino municipality, specifically to the rural area. The José Teolindo Peraza School, in the Río Caro hamlet, is being recovered at the request of the community itself, which raised the need to restore the roof, walls, classrooms, paint and sports field of the institution to the regional Executive. for the benefit of more than 160 children.
The methodology is the same. The Government provides 100% of the materials and the community is responsible for the labor, so that students begin the school year in renovated facilities and in optimal conditions for the teaching-learning process.
The plan expands to Guanare
Although initially Un Corazón para tu Escuela would serve educational centers in the Araure, Páez and Ospino municipalities, this week the plan expanded to Guanare, the capital of Portuguesa, and began with the comprehensive repair of the Sueños de Bolívar Foundation, an institution in which Exclusive attention is guaranteed to the children of Government employees.
The regional leader, Primitivo Cedeño, supervised the start of the works, which include the improvement, renovation, expansion and general maintenance of the facilities where Early Childhood and Primary Education is taught. “At Sueños de Bolívar we have decided to grow; an effort that is being made but with love to provide more support and quality of life to our workers,” he announced.
