The state governor carried out a tour of supervision and delivery of rehabilitation works in public schools in Zapopan, including the Carmen Aldrete Castillo “Rain School.”
With the aim of making the most of water resources and growing the network of sustainable sites, Governor Enrique Alfaro Ramírez, Grupo Arca Continental, Industria Mexicana de Coca Cola, and Isla Urbana, inaugurated this Tuesday the rehabilitation work of the primary school Carmen Aldrete Castillo that, from this moment on, will have the infrastructure to be a "Rain School," the first public campus in Jalisco to have a system for collecting and using rainwater. In addition to this school, Arca Continental undertook to install rainwater harvesting systems in 15 more schools in the Guadalajara Metropolitan Area.
The state president affirmed that the Carmen Aldrete elementary school has been fully rehabilitated by the Ministry of Infrastructure and Public Works (SIOP) with an investment of 7.39 million pesos prior to the return to face-to-face classes. It was also selected by the Government of Jalisco and Grupo Arca Continental to receive a rain capture system, to take advantage of up to 381,000 liters of rainwater per year suitable for use with human contact in toilets, sinks, irrigation, and general cleaning of the campus.
“I know the history of this institution, so I came to supervise the work for the return to classes and deliver the infrastructure that has been developed with the support of Arca Continental and Isla Urbana to be the first school in Jalisco that it is going to have a rainwater harvesting system that, without a doubt, is one of the most important actions we have on the environmental agenda. We want to make a comprehensive management of water, it is one of the great bets that we want to make not only for Jalisco and Mexico, but also for the world,” emphasized Alfaro Ramírez.
He added that the works being done in Jalisco schools are part of a program promoted by the current state administration to rehabilitate the school infrastructure and reverse years of neglect by previous governments.
“Since the pandemic we started a very intense work to rebuild our schools. We knew it was a very important opportunity in the sense that the schools were going to be without face-to-face activities, to make a general intervention. It is really incredible the level of abandonment in which the schools were. Today we are renovating more than 600 schools throughout the state and we do it from the basics, from the electrical, hydrosanitary infrastructure, classrooms, and civic patios," detailed the president.
Patricio Caso, director of Public Affairs of the Mexican Industry of Coca Cola, stressed that the ‘Rain School,’ as the rainwater harvesting project is called, will have a total of 15 equal projects in schools of the entity.
“To reiterate the commitment that as an industry we are having in the matter of water, and in the hands of the government, we highlight that this is one of 15 interventions that we will carry out in schools, to be able to bring water to schools, and it is part of a comprehensive strategy of three axes; one, to return water to the environment; two, to have the capacity to capture water; and three, to reduce the use of water in production processes.”
Juan Carlos Barrera, Western Regional Director of Arca Continental, highlighted that the 15 ‘rain schools’ in Jalisco will benefit more than 6,000 students.
Likewise, this day the Margarito Ramírez primary school with 9.73 million pesos, the Valentín Gómez Farías primary school with 8.83 million pesos, and the Mixed High School 26 “Benemérito de las Américas” with 6.63 million pesos, were also inaugurated in its rehabilitated works, which in general were intervened by the SIOP. Improvements were made in bathrooms, civic playgrounds, school classrooms, common areas, electrical installations, and sports infrastructure.
The Secretary of Education, Juan Carlos Flores Miramontes, stressed that the four schools reopened this day will each have 40 computers, which teachers will be able to incorporate for the use of technologies in the classroom, favoring the integral formation of its students.
“40 Chromebook computers that as described are mobile, you can take them to any classroom. Teachers can perfectly match their institutional academic programs with those they have already been working on for a year and a half. Children from their own homes with the accessibility will have access to exactly the same platforms, the same content online,” he said.
María de los Ángeles González Tello, director of the Valentín Gómez Farías Elementary School, said that in addition to the benefits for the students by having a completely renovated school, due to the new infrastructure they can now obtain better conditions to access other supports or programs.
The works delivered follow the line that the current Government of Jalisco drew for a return to face-to-face classes in decent schools with the same quality of finishes, design, materials, and sanitary security in all municipalities of the state.